Johnson to pull Brexit bill if timetable rejected

UK Prime Minister Johnson wants MPs in the Commons to approve the Withdrawal Agreement Bill in just three days but faced with a possible defeat, he has since threatened to withhold his Brexit bill. Instead, he seeks a fresh election.

London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday said that he would pull his Brexit deal from a parliamentary vote if lawmakers failed to approve the government's timetable for the country's withdrawal from the European Union.

Lawmakers in the House of Commons, the UK's lower chamber of Parliament, are debating Johnson's revised Brexit deal ahead of a scheduled vote later in the day, reported media.

"I will in no way allow months more of this. If Parliament refuses to allow Brexit to happen and instead gets its way and decides to delay everything until January or possibly longer, in no circumstances can the government continue with this," said Johnson.

"The bill will have to be pulled and we will have to go forward to a general election."

The timetable that could scupper Johnson's Brexit plans is known as the Withdrawal Agreement Bill and its function is to turn the measures in the withdrawal bill struck with the EU into UK law.

Johnson wants MPs in the Commons to approve the WAB in just three days but faced with a possible defeat, he has since threatened to withhold his Brexit bill. Instead, he seeks a fresh election.

The Labour Party, the UK's official opposition fronted by Jeremy Corbyn, says it would instead renegotiate the deal with the EU and put it back to the people in a referendum.

Johnson has repeatedly insisted that he would push to deliver Brexit by October 31.