Parliament has voted to have a general election on December 12th, which will serve as a referendum on Brexit. The date for Brexit, of the exit of the UK from the European Union, has been pushed back for the third time. The deadline is now January 31st, 2020. As the general election is roughly a month before the deadline, this essentially puts the Brexit question back into the hands of the British people. 

The current prime minister of the UK, Boris Johnson had previously tried to call a general election three times but had lacked the necessary support from Parliament. The Labour Party, the opposition coalition, who previously hadn’t supported an election agreed to back the move after a No Deal Brexit was off the table. 

The election has not been finalized yet, but it is not expected to have much push back in the House of Lords. Though the idea of an election is promising, there is still a great deal of contraversy that surrounds Brexit. Not only has Parliament been unable to agree on how Brexit should happen, but Brexit itself has also been delayed three times. The original referendum happened in June of 2016. The issue itself is also extremely polarizing for the British people, with smaller more radical parties like the Brexit Party or the Liberal Democrats gaining popularity. While Johnson’s Conservative party leads the Labour Party in the polls, support for these smaller parties could make it harder for either party to secure a majority. 

Photo Courtesy of UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor via AP