UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson loses second bid to call early election

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is vowing he won't go to Brussels seeking a delay to Brexit. Photo / AP

British lawmakers have rejected Prime Minister Boris Johnson's request for an election before the country's scheduled departure from the European Union next month.

A total of 293 of the 650 House of Commons members backed the proposal, well short of the two-thirds majority needed. Opposition lawmakers voted against the measure or abstained.

Johnson wants a snap election October 15, just over two weeks before the scheduled October 31 date for Brexit. But opposition parties say they won't support an election until Britain has secured a delay to the Brexit date, to ensure the country does not crash out of the bloc without a deal.

Parliament has ordered the government to seek an extension if there is no deal by late October, but Johnson is vowing not to seek a delay.

Pro EU protestors wave flags opposite parliament in London on Monday. Photo / AP

Britain's House of Commons earlier demanded the government hand over communications among officials about its decision to suspend Parliament and its plans for a no-deal Brexit.

Lawmakers passed a motion calling on the government to release, by Wednesday, "formal or informal" emails and text messages between aides and officials relating to the suspension, as well as to the impact of leaving the European Union without a deal.

Under parliamentary rules, the government is obliged to release the documents.

Lawmaker Dominic Grieve, who proposed the motion, said there were suspicions that Parliament was being suspended to stop the legislature from debating the risks of leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Johnson says he is cutting short the parliamentary term so he can outline his domestic agenda at a new session of Parliament in October.

- Associated Press