The Brits are heading for a snap election by Christmas. After failing to secure the vote for a general election three times, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally managed to swing the votes by a margin of 438 to 20, following months of deadlock over Brexit.
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It will be the first December election in almost 100 years, which seems to be a weird detail to note but is apparently a big deal nonetheless, based on every single report from the UK. Hope the Brits like endless political coverage with their mulled wine.
The legislation has yet to pass the UK’s upper house, but if it does – and it probably will – the Brits will see five weeks of campaigning before heading to the polls on December 12.
Naturally, it’s all about Brexit, of which deadlines have been repeatedly missed with no apparent consequences. (The new new deadline for the UK to withdraw from the European Union is January 31, 2020, after Johnson failed to pass his Brexit deal by the already-pushed-back deadline of October 31. Great!)
The Conservative Party, also known as the Tories and of which Johnson is the leader, will be campaigning to get Brexit done via Johnson’s Brexit deal. The Brexit Party – not to be confused with the mostly pro-Brexit Conservative Party, but mostly made up of ‘lower c’ conservatives – will be campaigning for a no deal Brexit, which is an immediate withdrawal from the EU without any agreement over what that looks like. The Labor party, led by Jeremy Corbyn, are pushing for a second referendum over Brexit, with Corbyn already promising “the most ambitious, radical campaign for real change this country has ever seen”.
Personally? I’m already tired of it. But for those of you living in the Australia who might need to vote in a few short weeks, here’s how to do it.
