The Queen has been dragged into Westminster’s bitter Brexit battle after Boris Johnson asked her to suspend Parliament for more than a month.
The Prime Minister will temporarily close down the Commons from the second week of September until October 14 when there will be a Queen’s Speech to open a new session of Parliament.
The Queen approved the order on Wednesday afternoon to prorogue Parliament no earlier than September 9 and no later than September 12, until October 14.
Opposition leaders have written to the monarch in protest and Commons Speaker John Bercow said the move was a “constitutional outrage” designed to stop Parliament debating Brexit.
Mr Johnson spoke to the Queen on Wednesday morning to request an end to the current parliamentary session – a process known as prorogation.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he “protested in the strongest possible terms on behalf of my party” in a letter to the Queen and called for a meeting alongside other opposition members of the Privy Council.
Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson also wrote to the monarch “to express my concern at Boris Johnson’s anti-democratic plan to shut down Parliament”.