MPs are gearing up for Britain's first pre-Christmas election campaign in nearly a century
Boris Johnson says it is time for the country to "come together to get Brexit done"
Labour's Jeremy Corbyn says the snap poll gives the country a "once-in-a-generation" opportunity
Leaders clash in the longest ever Prime Minister's Questions
MPs backed the PM's 12 December election bill on Tuesday - peers are considering it today
Amber Rudd, David Lidington and Patrick McLoughlin join the ranks of MPs standing down ahead of the election
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Also speaking after the vote, Jeremy Corbyn says Labour will "look at and scrutinise" the bill the government will bring forward for an early election on 12 December.
"We look forward to a clear, definitive decision that no-deal is absolutely off the table," he adds.
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SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford asks for a "cast iron assurance" from the prime minister that he will not attempt to bring his Withdrawal Agreement Bill, to ratify his Brexit deal, before an election.
In response to the rejected motion, Mr Johnson tells MPs he will table a short bill for an election on 12 December.
MPs have rejected Boris Johnson’s call for an early election on 12 December.
299 MPs backed the motion for a snap poll, short of the two-thirds majority of 434 votes required for it to pass under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act.
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The debate comes to an end, and the Commons divides to vote on the PM's early election motion.
Under the terms of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, two thirds of MPs must back the motion for it to come into effect - meaning 434 MPs must back it.
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Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor
No one is quite sure what happens if Mr Johnson's election vote fails the threshold tonight.
The government is expected to put down a one line bill to try again tomorrow with Lib Dem and SNP support. But a fair number of MPs in the Commons tonight are scratching their heads over how solid that support really is.
Some SNP MPs - like Angus MacNeil who has been public about it - think a December election is a terrible idea.
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The DUP's Sammy Wilson says his party will not be supporting the PM's election motion later, although he adds this is not because they are "scared" of an election.
He says the PM's Brexit deal is not an agreement for the "whole United Kingdom" and will see goods arriving into Northern Ireland subject to tariffs and delays.
The election motion, he adds, "does not offer any hope of any change" to the deal, he adds.
His party will not support a course of action, he says, which would allow the PM to pass his agreement, which he calls a "death deal for the Union".
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Image source, HoCIntervening, Independent Group for Change leader Anna Soubry says a further referendum, rather than an election, would be the best route forward - adding it is “within our grasp".
But Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson says there is an "absence" of votes for this in the current Parliament, and "the way forward now" is to have an election.
She says the plan put forward by her party - to set an election date by passing legislation - would not give the PM "wiggle room" on when the poll takes place.
She adds that Boris Johnson should not be given "carte blanche" to set the date, as "what the prime minister says" cannot be trusted.
Questioned by Labour's Stephen Doughty over whether the Lib Dems would support an amendment to give 16 and 17 year olds the vote, she says the "worst thing we can do for 16 and 17 year olds is to crash out without a deal”.
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SNP MP Peter Grant accuses Boris Johnson of walking out of the chamber while his party's Westminster leader Ian Blackford was still speaking.
In a tweet, he claims it is the "third or fourth time in a row" that Mr Johnson has left in such a way, adding: "This is deliberate. This is 2 fingers to Scotland."
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Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson says her party believes the best way to stop Brexit is to put a "specific" deal to a "final say" in a further EU referendum.
However she says MPs have so far not supported her party's repeated attempts to gain support for this outcome, adding they should not indulge in "wishful thinking" that the numbers are there.
If the support does not exist for this outcome, MPs need to look at supporting an election, she says.
Her party has proposed having an election on 9 December.
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Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith asks the SNP's Ian Blackford about his call for 16 and 17 year olds, as well as EU citizens, to get the right to vote in the next election.
Would the SNP still support an early election, he asks, if there is "no time" to put them on the electoral roll?
Mr Blackford responds that increasing the franchise in this way is the "right thing to do".
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Election expert Sir John Curtice looks at the polls...
Image source, Getty ImagesMPs are being asked to decide if there should be a third election in four years. So is there much appetite among voters or would they prefer a referendum?
Polling expert Sir John Curtice looks at the evidence.
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Image source, HoCThe SNP's Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, says his party sees the need for an early election, but not on the terms suggested by Boris Johnson.
He says if the motion is backed tonight, the PM could "railroad" his Brexit deal through Parliament, meaning the UK could leave by the end of November.
A "post-Brexit election", he says, is not something his party can sign up to - and confirms that the SNP will not be supporting the motion tonight.
He adds that he will support a Lib Dem plan to have an election before Brexit can be delivered, calling the issue of whether the UK is in or out of the EU "fundamental".
He says his party wants to give 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote, as well as EU citizens.
Katya Adler
Europe Editor
Boris Johnson writes to the EU accepting the new Brexit extension which, he says, is being “imposed” on his government by Parliament.
The PM urges the EU to make clear that a further extension after 31 January is not possible.
But the EU is highly unlikely to do this. Its main goal is to avoid a no-deal Brexit while safeguarding its red lines in negotiations.
In the back of EU minds is the possibility - after 3 years of false dawns during the Brexit process - that Brussels may be asked for yet another extension come January if a general election proves inconclusive regarding Brexit.
It would then grant one to avoid no deal.
Even if EU were to say, “no more extensions” in an attempt to focus MPs minds on newly negotiated Brexit deal - as Brussels would like - then that EU pledge would be worth as much as the previous EU promise “never to reopen the withdrawal agreement”.
For the EU, needs must. It won’t make concessions that really hurt the bloc.
As for this new extension, EU leaders now need to personally see and sign off on the Brexit extension plus an accompanying declaration.
A formality but necessary under EU law. Then the extension is official.
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Sir John Redwood accused Parliament of "once again misjudging the mood of the public".
The Tory backbencher and leading Brexiteer says: "We were elected here to do serious things... and see Brexit through.
"But three years and four months later there is no sign, and instead we have a discordant argumentative Parliament that will do nothing."
Sir John adds: "We owe it to the British people either to allow our government to govern or to let the British people decide on a better group of MPs than can do things for our country."
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Jeremy Corbyn says that the PM's proposed election date of 12 December is only nine days before the shortest day of the year.
The prime minister "must consider", he adds, that in some parts of the country it will get dark at 16:00 GMT.
Mr Corbyn says that Labour agrees there is a need for an early election, but "sees no need" for the first winter election since 1923.
Labour will not agree to anything until a no-deal Brexit is "definitely and definitively" taken off the table, he adds.
Mr Corbyn says the party will back an election when the date can be specified in law and "locked in".