John Bercow has warned Tory leadership contender Dominic Raab that he would not allow him to close down parliament in order to force a no-deal Brexit.
Raab has triggered a backlash after he suggested he could “prorogue” the Commons if he becomes prime minister in order to stop MPs forcing the government to delay Brexit.
But speaking to MPs on Thursday morning, Bercow said: “Parliament will not be evacuated form the centre stage of the decision making process on this important matter.
The Speaker added: “That simply us not going not happen it’s just so blindly obvious.”
One of Raab’s rivals for the leadership, Rory Stewart, said any move to shut parliament would be potentially “illegal”.
“It would be unconstitutional. It would be undemocratic. And it wouldn’t work,” he told ITV.
Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd told reporters in Westminster: “I think it’s outrageous to consider proroguing Parliament. We are not Stuart kings.”
It came as Michael Gove moved to try to position himself as the liberal Tory leadership candidate who would be prepared to delay Brexit beyond October if a deal was close.
Speaking at an event in Westminster organised by The Spectator, Gove said: “The critical thing to do is to recognise that if we’re not 100% out by midnight on October 31 then we risk making that arbitrary deadline the determinant of what a good deal is.”
“And I think if we’re so close to the wire with what is, I believe, a better deal, then it would be right to take those extra few days or weeks in order to land it and to make sure that we’re out.”
Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to succeed Theresa May, has pledged to take the UK out of the EU on October 31 with or without a deal.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told a leadership hustings on Wednesday evening that parliament would block a no-deal Brexit so the Tories needed a leader who could negotiate a better agreement.