MPs should reject Boris Johnson’s misleading election offer

Editorial: The nine days the prime minister is offering is not enough time to scrutinise his Brexit bill; all opposition parties should resist the temptation to back going to the polls in December

The prime minister has tried to make Jeremy Corbyn an offer he cannot refuse. He has tried to tempt the leader of the opposition with the prospect of a general election after Britain has left the European Union.

Mr Corbyn might relish such a contest. He undoubtedly finds it hard to straddle the Brexit divide, and would rather fight an election on ending austerity and increasing public spending on the NHS, social care, schools, university tuition, police and housing.

Boris Johnson’s offer is not, however, quite the open-ended proposal of democratic virtue that it seems. If Labour MPs were to vote on Monday for an early election on 12 December, there could be no guarantee that the Withdrawal Agreement Bill would be passed before parliament was dissolved on 7 November.