British finance minister Sajid Javid said on Thursday that legislation to delay Brexit which is now set to clear parliament was a “surrender bill” and meant the country would have to hold a national election.
“When it gets Royal Assent it will be a surrender bill and that is why the Prime Minister has said that, especially once this bill is in place, that we need to move forward as a country, we need to deliver on Brexit, and that’s why unfortunately I think we are in the position where we need a general election,” Javid said in a television interview.
Javid also said the proposed October 15 date for an election announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson would probably be changed because a bill to hold an early election was blocked by parliament on Wednesday.
(The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text, only the headline has been changed.)