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Nicola Sturgeon calls on the leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson to say what her Conservative colleagues will do to stop a no-deal Brexit.

Ruth Davidson has previously said she could not support a no-deal Brexit.

In June, polling company YouGov asked the public for their views on suspending Parliament in order to push through a no-deal Brexit.

They found just 24% of respondents were in favour of such a move, while 47% were against it.

The Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Rev Nick Baines, tells BBC News: “If Brexit was about taking back control and restoring parliamentary sovereignty, this is a very odd way of demonstrating it.”

Jeremy Corbyn sets out what he will do to block a no-deal Brexit.

"The first thing we will do is attempt legislation to prevent what he [Boris Johnson] is doing," says the Labour leader.

"Secondly we will challenge him on a motion of no confidence at some point."

Arlene Foster, Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, writes in a statement:

“This has been the longest Parliamentary Session since the Union of England and Scotland in 1707.

"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."

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The idea of proroguing Parliament was debated during the Conservative leadership race - which Boris Johnson eventually won, of course.

During the course of the campaign, senior Tory figures expressed opposition to the idea of proroguing Parliament to force through no deal.

At his own leadership campaign launch on 10 June, Matt Hancock, who has stayed on in Mr Johnson's cabinet as health secretary, said the idea "goes against everything that those men who waded onto those beaches [on D-Day] fought and died for - and I will not have it.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd told BBC News that it was "outrageous to consider proroguing Parliament".

While Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan said "it would lead to a constitutional crisis."

Jeremy Corbyn says he has written to the Queen to "protest in the strongest possible terms" at the prorogation of Parliament.

He describes the move as "a smash and grab on our democracy in order to force through an exit of EU".

"What is he [Boris Johnson] so afraid of?" asks Mr Corbyn.

Clive Coleman
BBC legal correspondent

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In order to suspend parliament the prime minister has to advise the Queen to ‘prorogue’ it.

By convention the Queen accepts such advice, and then uses what are known as her ‘prerogative powers’ to suspend.

It is not possible to mount a legal challenge to the Queen’s exercise of her personal prerogative powers – these include the granting of honours, appointing the prime minister and proroguing parliament.

But it is possible to mount a legal challenge to the advice given to her by her prime minister.

That would be done by a judicial review of the advice – in other words asking a court to rule on whether the decision to advise the Queen to prorogue was lawful.

Those bringing it could argue that the prime minister has misunderstood and so failed to correctly apply the law relating to the power to prorogue.

They would most likely argue that the power exists purely for purposes that are consistent with the healthy functioning of the country’s parliamentary democracy.

These purposes traditionally include enabling an election campaign to begin, and a Queen’s speech to be prepared and delivered.

If it was successfully argued that the purpose of today’s announcement was to frustrate the way the UK’s parliamentary democracy operates a court could rule that the power has been misused and so was unlawful.

There is already a legal challenge taking place in the Scottish courts, supported by a group of MPs and others who are seeking to expedite it.

If a challenge is brought in the English and Welsh courts, all of the challenges could end up in the UK Supreme Court.

Jess Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, tweets her response to the letter that Boris Johnson sent to MPs this morning.

"The sight of politicians from across the political divide working together this week, to stop a No Deal Brexit has sent you into panic. And like the worst kind of gambler, you've bet the house on one roll of the dice," she writes.

"This is not the actions of a credible Prime Minister, you will lose and take the people down with you."

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"Parliament only has themselves to blame," says Brexit Party MEP Alex Phillips.

"They have made themselves the obstacle to delivering Brexit," she says.

"The PM is saying he needs to remove that obstacle, and quite right too."

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Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live Baroness Shami Chakrabarti - Labour's shadow attorney general - denies opposition parties have been caught off guard by the move to suspend Parliament.

"They've been telegraphing their plan all summer," she says.

"You'll remember that during the Tory leadership campaign, Dominic Raab, who's now the foreign secretary, said that one way to deal with a difficult Parliament would be to prorogue it, to shut it down. Boris Johnson refused to rule that out.

"What the strategy now is, it would seem, is to pretend that this suspension of Parliament isn't really about Brexit. 'It's perfectly normal,' they say, 'it's just so we can prepare for the Queen's speech.'

"Maybe somebody on Planet Zog believes that, but because they've made their intentions so clear, it makes this just even more outrageous."

Steve Baker, the Eurosceptic Conservative MP for Wycombe and deputy chair of the European Research Group, welcomes the prorogation.

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There's a busy couple of months ahead for MPs:

• 3 September: MPs return to the House of Commons after the summer break
• 4 September: Chancellor Sajid Javid is set to make Commons statement on government spending in 2020/21
• 3/4 September: MPs could begin their attempts to block a no-deal Brexit

• 10 September: Parliament likely to be prorogued until 14 October
• 14 September: Liberal Democrat party conference begins in Bournemouth
• 21 September: Labour party conference begins in Brighton
• 29 September: Conservative party conference begins in Manchester
• 13 October: SNP conference begins in Aberdeen
• 14 October: State Opening of Parliament, including the Queen's Speech - which sets out the government's plans for the parliamentary session
• 17/18 October: EU summit in Brussels, at which a Brexit deal could be agreed between the UK and the EU
• 21/22 October: Parliament to hold a series of votes on Queen's Speech; MPs could also be asked to approve a Brexit deal, if one is agreed
• 31 October: UK due to leave the EU

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The BBC chose a sample of the questions it received from readers on the subject of prorogation. Where we didn't know the answer, we enlisted the experts.

1. Could the Queen say no? - David Stephens

It will be impossible for the Queen to turn down the prime minister's request, our royal correspondent Jonny Dymond writes.

The Queen acts on the advice of her prime minister.

While many, many people may be upset that Parliament is not going to sit at such time, precedent is on the side of those making this decision.

The idea is these things are settled in the Palace of Westminster, not Buckingham Palace.

The Queen has very little wriggle room to make any kind of political decision.

You can continue reading here.

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"If MPs don't come together next week to stop Boris Johnson in his tracks, then I think today will go down in history as the day UK democracy died," says Scotland's First Minister and Leader of the SNP Nicola Sturgeon.

"This simply can't be allowed to happen," she adds.

She says there is "a narrow window of opportunity next week" for MPs to stop a no-deal Brexit by taking control of the business of the House of Commons and passing legislation.

She also says a vote of no confidence "cannot be off the table".

No-deal Brexit: Can MPs overrule the new prime minister?