Johnson loses snap poll bid, formally accepts EU January 31 Brexit deadline

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday lost his bid to push through a vote in favour of a December 12 snap general election after MPs voted against the motion.

The development came after the European Union (EU) earlier agreed to offer the UK a three-month extension to the Brexit deadline, until January 31 next year, which Johnson then formally accepted by informing the British Parliament.

It effectively means Johnson's "do or die" pledge to exit the EU by October 31 is now dead and he went on to push for a snap General Election, urging the House of Commons on Monday to back his December 12 poll date because the current Parliament had "run its course".

"We must have December 12 as a 'hard stop'. A parliamentary terminus that everyone can believe in, and an election fulfills that purpose to allow a new Parliament and a new government to be in place by Christmas," Johnson told the Commons as he moved his election bid before MPs, even as he admitted that "nobody relished" the idea