Suspension of parliament: MPs react with fury and Davidson set to quit after Johnson move – as it happened

I will be wrapping up now, as another historic day in British politics is coming to an end.

At a glance, this is what happened:

• During a meeting of the privy council with the Queen, the monarch has consented to the prorogation of parliament, as requested by prime minister Boris Johnson in what is widely considered a bid to push through a no deal Brexit.
• Parliament will thus be dissolved, unless MPs or campaigners will manage to trash this plan over the coming days, between September 9th and September 12th, until October 14th. This would leave MPs with only a few days to put a stop to a no-deal Brexit or Brexit altogether. Markets jittered in anticipation of a no deal exit that is now more likely than ever before.
• MPs and campaigners across the political spectrum have reacted with outrage to the PM’s prorogation plans. Protests were held in towns across the UK, and a cross-party group of MPs has vowed to try everything in their power to avert prorogation. The former chancellor Philip Hammond said MPs opposed to a no-deal Brexit will “have to do something” when parliament returns next week.
• Johnson’s government has argued that the current parliamentary session, which began in June 2017, is the longest in almost 400 years. Brexit hardliner Jacob Rees-Mogg described the planned prorogation as “a completely normal procedure”. Several legal challenges have been launched against the plan, one of them spearheaded by the campaigner Gina Miller.
• A petition calling to stop the prorogation of parliament has reached more than 1 million signatures.
• In what is regarded a blow to Boris Johnson, Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, has announced her imminent resignation from her role as party leader, a move that could cost the PM a majority at the next general election.

That’s all from me, goodnight.

Diane Abbott said in an interview with the BBC: “Boris does not represent the people, he’s never represented the people. This is Boris versus the people. And the people are going to fight.”

This from Welsh Labour MP Anna McMorrin:

Ruth Davidson will step down as party leader without much further ado, reports ITV’s Scotland correspondent Peter A Smith:

This from independent MP Angela Smith, formerly Labour:

The “Do not prorogue Parliament” petition is still flying, and has now reached more than 900,000 signatures. Here my colleague Matthew Weaver’s story:

Also, in case you hadn’t seen this tweet by Hugh Grant, which has been very popular, while the name Hugh is trending, here it is:

People on Twitter have begun debating the legitimacy of the Queen’s role, as well as questioning the future of Britain’s constitutional monarchy. The hashtag #AbolishTheMonarchy is currently trending.

This from Apolitical’s Josh Lowe:

And this from Sky’s Lewis Goodall:

Conservative MP Sam Gyimah also found strong words earlier today:

A consensus regarding Boris Johnson’s main motive for dissolving parliament is emerging from the quarter of prorogation opponents.

This from Labour MP Richard Burgon:

My colleague Tom Kibasi wrote about this earlier:

But even if Johnson gets his “people vs parliament” general election, it’s likely to come with a number of caveats, as Sky’s Lewis Goodall points out:

This is Ed Miliband’s verdict on today’s developments:

Quite a few people seem to be ruminating on the future of chancellor Sajid Javid tonight.

This from the journalist Ian Fraser:

And this from Stefan Rousseau, chief political photographer at the Press Association - (the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg retweeted):

People across the UK took to the streets tonight to demonstrate against the Queen’s approval of the prime minister’s plans to prorogue
parliament.

Lawyers for campaigner Gina Miller have made an urgent application to the high court for a judicial review of Boris Johnson’s plan to prorogue parliament. It is the first shot in what will be an intense battle in the coming days to torpedo his plan.

“This is a brazen attempt, of truly historical magnitude, to prevent the executive being held accountable for its conduct before Parliament,” said Miller.

She had received legal correspondence from the government legal officers in the last two weeks stating that the issue of prorogation is of no more than “academic” interest and she says this now proves that Johnson has misled the nation.

“It is, sadly, all too clear from today’s announcements, that prorogation is a desperate reality, not a mere theoretical nicety. In view of this, I urge our courts to urgently hear my application for Judicial Review before 9 September 2019 – the earliest date that Prorogation of Parliament could come into effect.

“We have all been comprehensively misled by the Prime Minister and his lawyers. A reply from the Government Legal Department received late on 27 August stated: ‘The proposed intention to bring legal proceedings in respect of events which have not occurred and may never do so is noted. For the avoidance of doubt, we do not accept that the approach taken in your letter is an appropriate one.’,” she said in a statement issued tonight.

“To put this in an official legal letter and send it out at the same time as you are drafting a press release confirming Parliament’s suspension the following morning illustrates just how manipulative and anti-democratic this Prime Minister and his Government really are.

“The basis of my approach to the courts is that it cannot be legitimate or a proper use of the prerogative power to prorogue Parliament when the intention and effect inherent in doing so is to frustrate Parliament and fetter it from exercising its sovereign right to fulfil its elective role and enact any law it sees fit.”

MPs continue to rebuke the PM’s prorogation plans on Twitter.