Boris Johnson vows to deliver Brexit by January at 'absolute latest'
On what could have been the day the UK left the EU, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed voters should back the Tories if they want to get Brexit done.
During a visit to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge he claimed a Conservative government will deliver Brexit by January "at the absolute latest" if they win the election on December 12.
The PM blamed Parliament for his failure to meet his "do-or-die" pledge to take Britain out of the EU by the Halloween deadline.
He claimed Parliament has stood in the way of the will of the British people by voting to block the timetable for his "oven-ready" Brexit deal.
He said he called the election because "after three-and-half years, it was perfectly obvious to me that this Parliament is just not going to vote Brexit through".
"There are just too many people who are basically opposed to Brexit and want to frustrate it."
While the campaign does not officially start until Wednesday, the PM used PMQs yesterday as a chance to kick start his Brexit-heavy campaign ahead of meeting voters today.
Ahead of visits to a school, hospital and police unit on Thursday, Mr Johnson reminded people "today should have been the day that Brexit was delivered" but claimed "Jeremy Corbyn refused to allow that to happen".
He says the Labour leader has been "insisting upon more dither, more delay and more uncertainty for families and business".
"We cannot continue along this path," he said, "I didn't want an election - like the country I wanted to get Brexit done, but it is the only way forward."
The transport secretary backed up Mr Johnson, saying the reason the UK had not left the EU was because Parliament had "prevented" it.
He believes voters will see that this Parliament "has run out of steam" and "messed around with a very good deal" that would have pleased both sides.
He says a vote for the Conservatives will see "Brexit done by Christmas", but by backing Labour, voters will get "not one, but two referendums".
He claims Labour will not only give the people a say on the final Brexit decision but they'll also allow for another Scottish independence referendum.
"Jeremy Corbyn just wants to carry on with the kind of nonsense we've seen from Parliament for the last few years, the only clear way to break this impasse is to have a Conservative government," he said.
As the general election campaign cranked into gear, the prime minister said: "The public wants and expects the Government to give them hope and to improve their opportunities."
He says his party will campaign for a "Parliament that gets Brexit done" but said he also plans to delivers on the "people's priorities", which he says include "the NHS, education and crime".
He said: "I want next year to be a great year for our country - with more investment in frontline NHS services, the recruitment of thousands more police officers to reduce violent crime and investment in every one of our primary and secondary schools across the country."
"The alternative is for the people of this country to spend the next year, which should be a glorious year, going through the toxic, tedious torpor of two more referendums - on EU membership and Scottish independence - thanks to Jeremy Corbyn's incessant indecision."