United Kingdom and Gibraltar European Union membership referendum
all articles
Under the bell tower Big Ben, the lights went out during the night of Wednesday for a good five weeks. The British House of Commons was dissolved shortly after midnight (local time, 1.01 am CET). On December 12, the British are to elect a new parliament. Members will meet again for the first time on 16 December.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to dissolve the stalemate in the Brexit dispute. Whether he will succeed is uncertain. Although his conservatives are leading in the polls, it is not excluded that neither of the two major parties will be enough for an absolute majority.
Coinciding with the dissolution of parliament began in the UK, the official election campaign period. In the country there are strict requirements for party donations and election campaigns.
The last session also meant a farewell to a whole bunch of MPs. About one in ten MPs in the British House of Commons does not reappear in the December election.
Bad suspicion: Moscow is trying to influence the vote?
The election campaign will be overshadowed by rumors about a previously unpublished report that has been available to Premier Johnson since 17 October. In it, the possible interference of Russia in the Brexit campaign three years ago and the parliamentary election 2017 will be discussed. Among other things, the paper is based on information from the intelligence services and is intended to outline the influence of Moscow on 50 pages.
On Tuesday, parliament and opposition called on Johnson to publish the potentially explosive report before the parliamentary election. In the lower house was discussed the report violently.
Tolga acmen / AP
Boris Johnson: paper kept under lock and key
A government spokesman said the committee was dealing with issues of national security and intelligence services, that the report contained sensitive information. In this respect, the publication must be examined. According to the Guardian, the report addresses Russian attempts to interfere with the pre-Brexit referendum campaign in 2016, including an attempted infiltration of Johnson's conservative party.
Even though the election campaign will officially start this Wednesday, the leaders of the major parties have already announced that. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn blamed the prime minister in his first major election speech.
The first attacks are already driven
"In this election, Boris Johnson is trying to abuse Brexit to sell our national health system and the working people of that country," the Labor Party chief said Tuesday in Harlow, southern England. The UK and the US would secretly negotiate drug prices and the United States would demand full market access for US pharmaceutical products. The conservatives would "unleash Thatcherism on doping."
In Video: Trump interferes in the British election campaign
Oliver Contreras / POOL / EPA-EFE / REX
"Thatcherism" focuses on the market economy with as little government interference as possible - a lean state, a welfare state, reduced to a mere safety net.
In a letter, however, the prime minister accused his challenger Corbyn of not having presented a clear Brexit plan in the event of a Labor election victory. Corbyn reiterated in Harlow that the topic would be off the table within six months. The Altlinke wants to negotiate its own deal with the EU and then submit to the British in a referendum. It will not be a repeat of the 2016 Brexit referendum, Corbyn said. "This time around, the choice will be to leave the EU or stay with a sensible agreement."
