Shropshire Star comment: Election before Christmas inevitable
It now seems inevitable that we are heading for an election before Christmas.
And while the majority of people in this country are likely to let a collective cry of anguish at a national poll in the bleak mid-winter, it is hard to see any other way out of Parliament's current predicament.
Let's look at the facts.
We have a Brexit deal which, despite being agreed by a majority of MPs, has stalled.
We have a Government, which having lost its majority and its alliance with the DUP, is unable to govern.
Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition, meanwhile, are a contrary bunch who would probably struggle to agree on the best way to open a tin of soup.
Like it or not, an early general election at least gives the public an opportunity to speak directly to the very politicians who have been at the centre of this whole parliamentary circus.
There is no escaping the fact that the election will be about one issue.
Boris Johnson's deal with the EU may have passed its first hurdle in the Commons, but the Prime Minister is only too aware that Remainer MPs are queuing up to amend the agreement until it morphs into something which is simply not Brexit.
And something that the EU will never accept.
It has got to the point where an election is a necessary evil.
It will come as a major risk to the Labour Party, hence Jeremy Corbyn's reluctance to back one. A number of otherwise excellent constituency MPs could find themselves voted out.
Perhaps to a lesser extent, it is a risk for Mr Johnson.
While he remains a popular figure with large sections of the electorate, the fact is that he has failed to keep to his 'do or die' Brexit pledge.
Clearly, the Conservatives election campaign will focus on how the Prime Minister was stymied at every turn in his efforts to deliver Brexit.
How successful they are in conveying that message will undoubtedly have a major impact on the election result.
The big danger, of course, is that nothing changes and we are left with more uncertainty and disruption.
Another hung parliament is the one outcome that no one seems to have prepared for.
