Conservative Party chairman and Braintree MP James Cleverly played down the criticism to the Prime Minister’s decision to suspend Parliament.

He said: “There have been a lot of ridiculous things said in the last few days.

“I think some politicians are intentionally whipping up anger unfairly and are doing so with a lot of inaccuracies.

“People have got wound up and agitated because they think this is a deliberate tactic to force through Brexit.

“But as some people have been saying we are well overdue a Queen’s Speech and they are quite right. Normally you would have one every year but we have not had one for more than two years.”

“The Prime Minister has been clear he wants to set out the Government’s agenda such as extra funding for schools and the NHS, and getting extra police officers on the streets.

“What people forget is the Prime Minister was appointed just before the summer recess. This is the first time he will be able to set out his plans.

“There will only be a few days when the House won’t be sitting. The House of Commons will come back before the Brexit deadline where MPs can debate and scrutinise the government’s plan.

“This decision does not mean we will not try to get an agreement with the EU but we want to be clear to them, we will be leaving on October 31.

“One of the reasons we haven’t got any movement in negotiations is because people are telling the EU they should dig their heels in so we extend the deadline further or just give up on Brexit.

“This has been counterproductive to getting a deal. If MPs are flexible and work together we can still get a deal through the commons before the deadline.”