BRECON and Radnorshire MP Jane Dodds has said a general election shouldn’t be held unless there is an extension to the Brexit deadline.

That has has now been agreed by European Union leaders but they make a decision on the date Britain’s departure could be delayed to next week.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday said he wanted a general election to be held on December 12.

Liberal Democrat Ms Dodds said her support would be conditional on an extension to the Brexit departure date being agreed. She also claimed the election bid is an attempt to deflect attention from the Prime Minister’s failure to ensure Britain will leave the EU on October 31 as he had promised.Labour's Brecon and Radnorshire candidate Tom Davies also said his party has been clear it would only support a general election if an extension has been agreed.

Ms Dodds, who is also the Welsh Lib Dem leader, said: "Boris Johnson’s call for a General Election is a desperate attempt to avoid talking about the fact he has missed his do-or-die deadline of October 31st after failing to ram his bill through Parliament without proper time for scrutiny.

“The Welsh Liberal Democrats will not support having an election until we secure an extension from the EU. Only with an extension can we ensure a no-deal Brexit, which would be incredibly damaging for our farmers and our rural communities, is firmly taken off the table."

Ms Dodds again repeated the Lib Dem calls for a further referendum and said she was disappointed the Labour Party hadn’t backed an amendment, put forward by the Lib Dems, for another public vote to be held. She said: "As a party, we believe a people’s vote is the best way to break the Brexit logjam and help the country move forward."

Labour candidate Mr Davies said: "We desperately need to get rid of this Tory government. We currently live under the worst government in history and the worst Prime Minister in history."The nightmare that is Brexit will not be completed by Halloween: yet another of Boris Johnson’s broken promises."We have consistently said that we will only vote for an election when an extension to Article 50 has been secured. We are alive to the disaster that a no deal exit from the EU would be for the country, for businesses and for ordinary people. We are not prepared to run the risk of it happening. "Whilst we need a general election, the election must be just that: general. It cannot be dominated by Brexit as the Tories will want because there are so many other issues facing the country."More important issues cannot be drowned out by Brexit, but that is exactly what the Tories will try to do. If they were to win an election based only on Brexit, we would be subjected to another five years of regressive politics, a further increase in the gap between us and the top 5%, and more damage to our environment."We are ready to fight an election and hold this zombie government to account whenever that election comes. More importantly, we are ready to win that election and change the country for the better." Prime Minister Boris Johnson had said he would rather "be dead in a ditch" than ask for the extension, that has now been granted after he requested it when his withdrawal agreement wasn’t put to MPs at a special Saturday sitting of Parliament.

MPs did agree to allow the bill to progress to a second reading this week but voted against the government’s proposed timeline that would have only allowed three days to debate the bill.

Ms Dodds had voted against the withdrawal bill and also helped defeat the government’s proposed timetable.

Mr Johnson has said he wants a General Election on December 12 and would allow MPs to debate the withdrawal agreement until Parliament breaks up in November.