Over 1 million sign petition urging Boris Johnson not to suspend parliament

Petition will be considered for debate by MPs

Over one million people have signed a petition demanding moves to suspend parliament are halted.

The petition reached over 100,000 signatures earlier on Wednesday, meaning it will be considered for debate by MPs.

It reached the mark less than three hours after Boris Johnson, the prime minister, announced he planned to prorogue parliament in order to push through his new domestic agenda.

Any petition securing 10,000 signatures is guaranteed a government response and 100,000 names sees the petitions committee consider it for debate by MPs.

The petition, which was created by Mark Johnston on parliament’s website, states parliament should not be prorogued unless there is another extension of the Brexit deadline or the idea of leaving the European Union is scrapped altogether.

It says: “Parliament must not be prorogued or dissolved unless and until the Article 50 period has been sufficiently extended or the UK’s intention to withdraw from the EU has been cancelled.”

Seven hours after Mr Johnson’s announcement, the petition hit 550,000 signatures, and it reached one million shortly after 11pm.

Thousands protested against the plan to suspend parliament in rallies in London, Edinburgh and other cities within hours of Mr Johnson’s announcement.

At Westminster, crowds blocked traffic and some staged a sit-down protest in Parliament Square chanting “stop the coup” while others headed for Downing Street.

There were also impromptu demonstrations planned in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Manchester, Bristol, Cambridge and Durham after the Queen approved an order that will see parliament suspended for more than a month.