After three failed attempts to get MPs to accept a motion for an early general election, Boris Johnson now looks set to succeed in his next call to summon the public to the polls. The Labour Party appears to have come around, and said it will back the motion now it is satisfied a no deal Brexit is off the table.

When is the general election – what date?

The exact date is still in dispute, but it will almost certainly be in the first half of December.

The Government wants to hold it on Thursday, December 12, with a possible compromise date of December 11.

But opposition parties are pushing back on the dates.

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A lot of students will have broken up for Christmas by December 12 and it will make it harder for them to vote if they’re travelling between two locations.

The Lib Dems and the SNP proposed an election on Monday, December 9 to ensure the Government had no time to bring its Brexit deal back.

Lib Dem MP Chuka Umunna said the party was not prepared to accept the December 12 proposal.

He said: “If you have the 12th, it presents an opportunity for the government to get their withdrawal agreement bill through.

“The reason the 9th is preferable is because it would stop them from bringing forward their withdrawal bill and completing its passage through the Commons.”

However, leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg said December 9 was not a realistic option.

The law requires 25 working days between the dissolution of Parliament and polling day.

In order to meet the December 9 date, then, Parliament would have to be dissolved this Friday.

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With other important bills still active in the House – including securing royal assent for the election bill, and passing a Northern Irish budget bill.

Doing this in a few days would be very difficult.

To meet the December 12 date, Parliament could remain in session until November 8.

But the opposition is concerned that, if Parliament stays open a few more weeks, it will allow the Government to try push through their Brexit deal again.

In order to try quell opposition worries, the Government has promised to abandon the withdrawal agreement bill for now.

A Number 10 source said: “The withdrawal bill will not be brought back.

“This is the way to get Brexit done so the country can move on.”

Ian Blackford, the SNP Westminster leader, said his party would need a “cast-iron guarantee” that the prime minister would not try to bring back his Brexit deal to Parliament.

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