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Professor Colin Talbot, from Cambridge University, says the government's decision to prorogue Parliament at this time is "absolutely not normal and pretending it is is frankly nonsense".

"The longest prorogation we've had in the last 40 years was three weeks - and that was due to very specific circumstances," he says.

"To prorogue Parliament for four and half weeks in the run up to what is arguably the biggest political crisis since the Second World War is quite extraordinary."

Image source, Getty Images

One standard effect of proroguing - or suspending - Parliament is that legislation currently being examined by MPs falls away.

Conservative MP Simon Hoare says he thinks the progress of Brexit-related laws such as the Immigration Bill, Trade Bill, Agriculture Bill and Fisheries Bill will be stalled.

Writing on Twitter, external, he said he thought it unlikely that party managers would agree to discuss these bills during the "wash-up" period before prorogation begins.

He adds that it would "not be proper" for the issues to be dealt with using statutory instruments - a form of secondary legislation which receives less parliamentary scrutiny.

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Brexit Party MEP Martin Daubney says Boris Johnson was "forced into a corner" by Remain-supporting MPs.

He says Parliament has only lost a few days. "It is not a five week coup," he says.

He adds that his party will support the PM if he "delivers the clean Brexit we want".

However, he also says that "Boris will fall if he bodges Brexit."

Some 47% of people believe it is not acceptable for the government to stop Parliament from meeting in the run-up to Brexit, a snap poll by YouGov has revealed.

Over half of Conservative and Leave voters said it was acceptable for the government to prorogue Parliament, the online survey of 5,734 adults found.

Image source, Reuters

Former Tory deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine has released a statement on today's news.

It reads: "On hearing the news whilst on holiday in Montenegro, I am appalled by the government's announcement.

"The government's decision is a constitutional outrage.

"A government which is frightened of Parliament is frightened of democracy.

"I hope that every member of Parliament, in feeling this humiliation, will use every legal and constitutional weapon to obstruct a government proposing to force on the British people a historic change for which they have long since lost any mandate."

The government’s suspension of Parliament is a “completely proper constitutional procedure”, the Leader of the House says.

Arriving at Aberdeen Airport after meeting the Queen, Jacob Rees-Mogg said he was “certainly not” trying to avoid Parliamentary scrutiny.

He described the shutdown as the “normal functioning of our constitution”.

Sir John Redwood says MPs can still have their say over the prime minister's decision to suspend Parliament.

The pro-Leave Tory backbencher, who supports the move by Boris Johnson, said MPs against it could call a no-confidence vote in the PM - though he doubted it would succeed.

Sir John said it was not the will of Parliament to “thwart the new PM and to thwart Brexit”.

Conservative MP Sam Gyimah resigned from the government in protest at Theresa May's Brexit deal.

He later called for a further referendum on the UK's membership of the EU.

Before Parliament is formally suspended, there are some parliamentary rituals to get through.

The ceremony starts with an announcement in the Lords, made on behalf of the Queen, read out by the Leader of the House, currently Baroness Evans.

It says that the Queen has appointed a commission, made up of five peers, to carry out prorogation duties.

The commission - dressed in robes and hats - sends a message to the Commons inviting MPs to the Lords.

When MPs arrive the Lords greet them by doffing their hats.

Next, there's some housekeeping to do - giving Royal Assent to any remaining pieces of legislation.

As each Act of Parliament is announced, a Lords clerk declares that "La Reyne le veult" - Norman French for: the Queen wishes it.

When MPs return to the Commons, the Speaker reads out the same prorogation announcement that's been given in the Lords.

At this point, the Commons and the Lords are prorogued and won't meet again until the State Opening of Parliament.

Prorogation becomes legally binding when the Queen approves the request.

So if MPs disrupted the rituals or refused to leave the Chamber, Parliament would still be prorogued.

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Professor of Government at Cambridge University, Colin Talbot, likens proroguing Parliament to "pressing the reset button".

"It normally happens once a year," he explains adding that "in recent years prorogation has only lasted less than a working week".

Prorogation is "very different from the conference recess", he says.

"During the conference recess, MPs can still meet in committee, they can demand government papers, they can put down questions to ministers.

"There are a lot of things that can go on in recess that can't go on in prorogation."

Image source, Reuters

The former prime minister, Sir John Major, has said he will continue to seek advice on the legality of the prime minister’s decision to prorogue Parliament.

In a statement, he said Boris Johnson’s motive was clearly to bypass a sovereign parliament that opposes his policy on Brexit.

In July, the former prime minister told the BBC he would seek a judicial review in the courts if the prime minister tried to suspend Parliament to deliver a no-deal Brexit.

Image source, petition.parliament.uk

A petition launched to stop Parliament from being suspended is garnering about 1,300 new signatures every minute.

Between 15:17 and 15:22 BST the number jumped from 342,500 to 350,000 votes.

Parliament considers debating all petitions that get more than 100,000 signatures.

Image source, Reuters

Dr Catherine Haddon from the Institute for Government says MPs could vote down the Queen's Speech in a few weeks time.

She explains it depends on what other things anti-no-deal MPs have tried before 14 October - when the speech is due to take place.

She says it is not clear what could happen if MPs did refuse to approve the speech.

In the past it has led to either the resignation of a government or a general election; however, she adds, "nobody is playing any normal rules at the moment".

The Queen's Speech sets out the government's plans for the coming parliamentary session.

Boris Johnson's request to suspend Parliament has been met with strong reaction from other political leaders - here is a summary of what they have said:

Jeremy Corbyn (Labour): "Boris Johnson’s attempt to suspend Parliament to avoid scrutiny of his plans for a reckless no-deal Brexit is an outrage and a threat to our democracy. Labour will work across Parliament to hold the government to account and prevent a disastrous no deal."

Jo Swinson (Lib Dem): "By suspending Parliament to force through a no deal, Boris Johnson and the government would remove the voice of the people. It is a dangerous and unacceptable course of action which the Lib Dems will strongly oppose."

Nicola Sturgeon (SNP): “Shutting down Parliament in order to force through a no-deal Brexit, which will do untold and lasting damage to the country against the wishes of MPs is not democracy, it’s dictatorship."

Adam Price (Plaid Cymru): "Time to leave this sham of a democracy and start building our own."

Anna Soubry (Independent Group for Change): "There is a parliamentary majority against no deal and Parliament must resume so that we can continue cross-party work to legislate against a no deal on 31 October."

Jonathan Bartley (Green): "This is a cynical, duplicitous, cowardly move from the prime minister. This has no mandate behind it. What the prime minister is doing here is bypassing Parliament completely in order to drive through his own agenda - an agenda people did not vote for."

Arlene Foster (DUP): "We welcome the decision to hold a Queen’s Speech marking the start of a new session of Parliament on 14 October where the government will set out its new domestic legislative agenda."

Michelle O'Neill (Sinn Fein): "Johnson demonstrates the arrogance of the British government and their contempt for even their own political institutions. It’s crystal clear that Irish interests will never be protected at Westminster."

Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg has been asked about the PM's move to suspend Parliament at Aberdeen Airport earlier today, after meeting the Queen.

He told the BBC that ministers are "certainly not" trying to avoid scrutiny from Parliament, and the suspension represented the “normal functioning of our constitution".

The decision to suspend Parliament ahead of a Queen’s Speech, he added, was a “completely proper constitutional procedure.”

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Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dem MP for Orkney and Shetland, says Tory infighting means Brexit has been "mismanaged from day one".

"What's necessary now is that we continue with some vigour the work that we started yesterday with all the parties who are opposed to a no-deal Brexit," he told 5 Live.

He said parties - along with rebel Tory MPs - must "get together" to find a way "of stopping this".

"What you've seen today from this government is nothing short of an abuse of process," he said.

He shared the view of other MPs who have called the move a "constitutional outrage" - and on Twitter this morning, called prorogation an "existential threat to parliamentary democracy".

Image source, PA Media

Sinn Fein has branded as "absurd" calls for the party to take their seven Westminster seats in a bid to thwart a no-deal Brexit.

Assembly member Conor Murphy says Boris Johnson's move to suspend Parliament shows how impotent the Westminster institutions are.

"This day of all days when the British government decided to set aside parliamentary interests, decided to ride roughshod over the Parliament and force their own position, then the argument that Sinn Fein should be sitting in there, as impotent as the rest of the MPs, I think is a nonsense," he says.

Mr Murphy also heavily criticises the DUP for backing the PM's move.

"By throwing their weight behind the British government today, who are clearly determined to drive through a no-deal Brexit, once again they are demonstrating their own contempt for the people who elected all of us in this part of the world."

The UK parliament is to be suspended for five weeks, ahead of 31 October, when the UK is due to leave the EU.

That's just nine weeks away.

Those who want the UK to remain in the EU are calling it a coup.

Mr Johnson wants to start a new parliamentary session, with a fresh programme, from 14 October. Instead of a normal three-week autumn recess, parliament will now wrap up on 10 September.

With so little time, MPs would find it difficult to stop the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Read what's happened in 500 words here.