Pre-Christmas election backed by Labour ahead of major vote tonight

Jeremy Corbyn dropped his opposition to a snap vote after the EU granted a Brexit delay until 2020, averting the risk of no-deal.

Labour has thrown its weight behind an early general election, significantly boosting the chances of voters going to the polls before Christmas.

Leader Jeremy Corbyn dropped his opposition to a snap election after the EU granted a Brexit delay until 31 January 2020 to avoid a no-deal divorce.

MPs will vote this evening on the proposal for a snap poll, which would be the first December general election for almost a century.

If confirmed, this would be the first December election in nearly a century

 But there is disagreement between the political parties over what date it should be on.

Boris Johnson has pushed for Thursday 12 December, but the Lib Dems prefer 9 December in order to dissolve parliament earlier and remove any chance of the prime minister's Brexit bill being fast-tracked through parliament.

Mr Corbyn has not revealed what date he would support, only saying there will be a "parliamentary process" to argue over the timing later today.

"We are going out there to fight an election campaign and I can't wait to get out there on the streets," he said after a meeting of Labour's shadow cabinet.

news.sky.com