MPs from region welcome Boris Johnson's plan to suspend Parliament

The move is seen by some as a way of hampering efforts by MPs to block a no-deal Brexit.

It was today welcomed by Telford MP Lucy Allan, Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard,and Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies, who said a new legislative programme was badly needed.

But it will anger MPs seeking to prevent the UK from leaving the European Union without a trade deal. It will also effectively serve as a vote of confidence in the Government.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell branded it 'a very British coup' and by early afternoon more that 270,00 people had signed a petition to the government against the plan.

But Ms Allan welcomed the news, saying the Government had to put forward a legislative programme.

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• Live: All the latest as Boris Johnson reveals plan to suspend Parliament

"A Queen’s Speech is long over due," she said. "It’s time for Government to get to work on a domestic agenda. Brexit has been consuming everything. That must stop."

She added: "The Government has announced a Queen’s Speech on 14th October to set out the domestic legislative agenda of the new Government. This would normally take place every year and would be preceded by suspension of Parliament.

"Parliament does not normally sit in any event during the three week Party Conference period beginning in mid September, and had expected to return on 7th October.

"By holding the Queen’s Speech on 14th October the usual Party Conference recess has been extended by one week or four sitting days."

Mr Pritchard said Mr Johnson was right to suspend Parliament.

“Brexit must be delivered,” he said.

“Sadly some MPs want to stop Brexit at all costs. This is wrong and goes against the majority of voters who supported Brexit.

“If it takes Parliament being prorogued to get Brexit through, then so be it. Democracy means delivering on Brexit. the Prime Minister is right in his decision.”

Mr Davies said the news came as a surprise, but said it would be wrong to read too much into it.

"It will mean Parliament is suspended at a time when it would not be sitting anyway, and he is going to bring forward a Queen's Speech which we desperately need," he said.

"In many ways, it's what you would normally expect to happen, but it's complicated by the October 31 deadline.

"It will be controversial, a lot of Members of Parliament have been plotting to stop the United Kingdom from leaving the European Union, and this will make their plans more difficult. They are going to be very angry and making lots of noise about this, because it means their plans will probably be frustrated."

Mr Davies acknowledged that if the new Queen's Speech was voted down by parliament, it would effectively bring down the Government.

"If people vote down the Queen's Speech, I think that's a no-confidence vote. People might vote against the Queen's Speech when they aren't actually against the Queen's Speech, but for other reasons.

"Some people have become so obsessed with preventing the Government from carrying out the referendum result, they are completely obsessed."

He said the Conservatives would also need to seek a new deal with the Democratic Unionist Party, although he believed that would need to have been done anyway.

Mr Johnson rejected claims his decision was designed to block MPs from considering ways to thwart his Brexit plans.

The Prime Minister said it was "completely untrue" that Brexit was the motivation for the move, insisting it was time for a new session of Parliament to set out his "exciting agenda".

But a furious Commons Speaker John Bercow joined a chorus of disapproval over the plan, saying he had not been consulted about the move, which he labelled a "constitutional outrage".

Under the PM's plan Parliament will be temporarily shut down from around September 11 until the state opening on October 14.

The move led to accusations Mr Johnson was acting like a "tin pot dictator" and dragging the monarch into a bitter constitutional row.

Mr Bercow said: "However it is dressed up, it is blindingly obvious that the purpose of prorogation now would be to stop Parliament debating Brexit and performing its duty in shaping a course for the country."

The Speaker added that "at this early stage in his premiership, the Prime Minister should be seeking to establish rather than undermine his democratic credentials and indeed his commitment to Parliamentary democracy".

But Downing Street sources insisted only around four Commons sitting days would be lost due to the suspension of Parliament before the speech, a move known as prorogation.

The Prime Minister said there would be "ample time" for MPs to debate Brexit either side of a crunch EU summit on October 17.