MPs vote against break for Tory party conference
MPs have voted to deny their Conservative colleagues a chance to go to their annual party conference which starts this weekend.
Ministers asked the House of Commons to approve a three-day recess for the conference to go ahead. But MPs today voted against the proposal by 306 votes to 289.
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The conference is scheduled to start on Sunday and run until Wednesday next week.
In parliament today, speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow said it would not be possible to hold an election before Brexit on 31 October.
Parliament would have to change the rules for this to be able to happen, he explained.
“I can confirm that my understanding of the electoral timetable under the existing statutory framework is the same as his,” Bercow said in response to Labour MP Richard Burgon.
Burgon had asked if he was correct to assume the earliest an election could take place was 5 November.
It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson has twice held, and twice lost, a vote on calling an election.
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He has faced opposition from other parties who will not agree to a new election until after a no-deal Brexit is impossible.
Johnson has said Britain will leave the European Union on 31 October with or without a deal. However MPs have voted to force him to delay leaving if he cannot negotiate a deal.