Today’s Good Morning Britain was presented by Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard, and Conservative Party politician Sajid Javid was live from ITV’S Mill Bank studio on a video link to discuss the possible length of the Brexit extension as well as his party’s call for an early general election. During the interview, The Chancellor of the Exchequer suggested how the opposition and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was scared of the possible outcome of a general election, hence their “delay” in accepting one.
In upcoming days, the Prime Minister is set to ask MPs to grant him a pre-Christmas election.
Boris Johnson wrote to Corbyn last night to say he would give parliament one last chance to look at his withdrawal agreement bill and “get Brexit done” by 6 November.
Johnson also explained his intention to table a motion on Monday asking for an early general election, which would require the back of two-third of MPs to succeed.
And according to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Corbyn’s “dithering” is causing “delays”.
“We don’t know what Jeremy Corbyn is going to do,” Javid explained.
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“Just think about that for a second, it’s astounding! He’s already turned down the opportunity for a general election once, he’s turned it down again and this would be the third time.
“And if he turns this down, it would be the first time in the history of our government, that the opposition – which claims to be better than the government – are turning down the down the opportunity to face the people,” he added.
Shephard interjected: “But you know why they are turning it down.
“Hold on, they want to be assured No Deal is taken off the table and want to understand how the extension would be we get from Europe.
“If Boris Johnson can confirm No Deal is taken off the table and the extension is right, they will go for it.
“Can you do that? Tell us No Deal is taken off the table?” The presenter asked.
Javid replied: “First of all, we have done everything possible to leave the EU on October 31. Everyone said we couldn’t get a deal, we did. We prepared for a No Deal, just in case.
“Despite that, because of the actions of parliament and Jeremy Corbyn in particular there is no sadly likely to be further delay. We don’t know how long the delay will be, given parliament requested a three month delay, lets assume that’s most likely outcome.
“If we do get that three month delay against our wishes, it’s something Jeremy Corbyn has asked for, then he should be agreeable to this general election. If he doesn’t agree to the general election, there can only be one answer; he doesn’t want to face the election.
“He [Corbyn] wants to keep the zombie parliament there, damaging the interests of the British people, not just Brexit, but failing to deliver on so much more,” Javid remarked.
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The Chancellor of the Exchequer concluded the interview with explaining why a general election was a good thing.
“[It’s] far from ideal to have a December election,” he told Shephard and Garraway.
“Here and now for our country it is important we have a functioning parliament, this is a zombie parliament, it is completely dysfunctional.
“It is not only stopping Brexit, but it is stopping so much else that should be going on in our country.
“When we think about our country’s interest, it is good for everyone to have an election, the British people decide who should govern them and get a clear choice between Conservatives that will deliver Brexit, back our economy, back the people’s priorities or a Labour government that will crash our economy and bring more dither and delay.”
Yesterday, Corbyn made Labour’s position clear in regards to a possible general election.
“Take No Deal off the table and we absolutely support an election,” Corbyn told the Guardian.
“I’ve been calling for an election ever since the last one. This country needs one to deal with all the social injustice issues.
“But No Deal must be taken off the table.”
He was then asked what he would tell Labour MPs to do about the possible vote on Monday to call for a December 12 general election.
“Tomorrow [today] the European Union will decide whether or not there is an extension granted or not. That extension will obviously encompass whether or not there is a No Deal or not.”
Good Morning Britain airs weekday mornings at 6am on ITV.