Boris Johnson will abandon attempts to push his Brexit bill through this parliament in a bid to get the Liberal Democrats and the SNP to agree to an election before Christmas, although the parties are still in dispute over the potential date. The prime minister failed to get the two-thirds of MPs he needed to secure an election under existing laws, after opposition parties largely abstained. However, he said he would table a short bill on Tuesday that would change the law in order to hold a poll on 12 December. He would only need a simple majority for this plan, so an election could be achieved with the backing of ... (full story)