Boris Johnson has “not a cat in hell’s chance” of getting his new domestic agenda through parliament, the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford has said.
The prime minister will tonight table a fresh motion for a snap general election – which opposition MPs are set to reject – and then shut down parliament for five weeks.
When Westminster starts back up on October 14, Johnson has promised MPs a vote on his new programme for government.
But following a meeting of opposition leaders on Monday, Blackford said the Commons will block it.
That would mean Johnson would face a motion of no-confidence, potentially on October 21, and a general election may follow in November.
Johnson no longer has a working majority in parliament after he threw 21 Conservative MPs, including stalwarts Ken Clarke and Philip Hammond, out of the party last week when they voted for the opposition anti-no-deal Brexit bill.
On Sunday, Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd resigned both as a minister and from the party, saying that Johnson was making scant effort to secure a new deal with the EU.
“When we come back on October 14, the first thing that we will face is a government coming forward with a Queen’s Speech,” said Blackford.
“There is not a cat in hell’s chance of that Queen’s Speech getting through so that is obviously going to trigger a general election.”
MPs will today deny Johnson’s wish for a snap general election for a second time amid widespread concern that the prime minister will use the event to force a no-deal Brexit on October 31.
Johnson has said he would rather “die in a ditch” that request from Brussels an extension to the Article 50 deadline.
Ministers have suggested that the PM may even be willing to ignore the new law MPs passed last week forcing him to ask for a Brexit delay in the face of no-deal.
Blackford said MPs would focus today on speaking out against the prorogation of parliament while the UK faces a constitutional crisis.
He added: “We are in a constitutional crisis, the like of which we have never seen.
“When you have Amber Rudd walking out of government and confirming what we all knew – there are no meaningful discussions taking place with the European Union.
“This is about Boris Johnson taking us out of Europe on a no-deal basis at the end of October.”
“This is a massive day,” he said, adding: “There are real questions that have to be answered by the two law officers [Justice Secretary Robert] Buckland and [Attorney General Geoffrey] Cox – because their responsibility is to uphold the law.
“It is an absolute outrage that the government is sending the signal to all of the people on these islands that it is perfectly acceptable to ignore the rule of law.”
He added all legal avenues were being explored to stop Johnson from ignoring legislation against no-deal.
“This is a PM who is acting like a dictator and if he so chooses to ignore the rule of law and an act of law which has been passed in October, he will find he has the full force of the law standing against him,” he said.
A spokesman for the Labour Party confirmed MPs would attempt to resist parliament being shutdown and that opposition parties would oppose a general election where the campaign risked a no-deal Brexit.
He said: “Jeremy Corbyn hosted a meeting with opposition party leaders this morning. They agreed to work together to hold the government to account in parliament.
“All leaders agreed that they would not support Boris Johnson’s ploy to deny the people their decision by crashing us out of the EU with no-deal during a general election campaign.”