The Queen has approved Boris Johnson’s controversial plan to suspend parliament as the UK edged closer to a no-deal Brexit at Halloween.
After a meeting of the Privy Council at Balmoral, the monarch backed the prime minister’s request for parliament to be prorogued between September 9 and October 14.
The news sparked a chorus of angry reaction from MPs across the political spectrum on Wednesday, with Commons speaker John Bercow calling the move a “constitutional outrage”.
It means that MPs who have formed an alliance to stop Johnson taking the UK out of the bloc without an agreement face a race against time.
The PM insisted on Wednesday that there is “ample” time for MPs to oppose his Brexit plans and the decision to suspend parliamentary business allows time for the government to set out a new domestic agenda.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson have both written to the Queen to ask for a meeting.
Opposition leaders met on Tuesday and agreed to table legislation that would block a no-deal Brexit.