BORIS Johnson’s plan to suspend parliament amounts to “dictatorship” and if successful would show UK democracy had “died”, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The First Minister also said that if Mr Johnson was prepared to close Westminster to stop MPs blocking a no-deal Brexit, it was conceivable that he might shut Holyrood too.

She told the BBC the Prime Minister’s move was “absolutely outrageous”.

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She said: “Shutting down parliament in order to force through a no-deal Brexit which will do untold and lasting damage to the country, against the wishes of MPs in not democracy, it’s dictatorship.

“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.

“This simply can’t be allowed to happen.”

She added: "This is a UK government that is showing today it has no respect for constitutional norms.

"It’s no longer ridiculous to say that a Prime Minister that’s prepared to shut down the House of Commons wouldn’t be prepared to do that to the Scottish Parliament."

Mr Johnson’s plans to ask the Queen to prorogue parliament for around five weeks starting in early September, ostensibly as a break before a new legislative programme.

However ending parliamentary business for 23 days - far more than the handful of days usual before a Queen’s speech - is widely seen as a device to shut down debate by MPs.

Opposition parties had been planning to seize control of the order paper to pass emergency legislation to prevent a no-deal Brexit on October 31.

Although Westminster was due to have a four week recess for the party conference season, prorogation means this cannot now be shortened as part of that plan.

It also leaves less time for the Commons to pass a Brexit deal - something Mr Johnson claims is still his priority despite his Queen’s speech plan for October 14 making it harder.

Ms Sturgeon said Mr Jaohnson’s claim that only a few days were being lost and there would be “ample time” to consider Brexit after parliament returned was manifest “nonsense”.

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She said: “I’ve rarely heard a flimsier or more transparent cover story. Even the Speaker of the House of Commons is calling this an outrageous attack on democracy.

“Everybody knows what this is about. It’s about restricting any ability parliament has to stop a no-deal Brexit in its tracks. 

“Brexit, let’s not forget, was all supposedly about returning control to the House of Commons.

“Now we have a Prime Minister, who himself of course been elected by anybody other than a tiny number of Tory party members, trying to shut down parliament to do something to the UK that everybody who is prepared to be honest about this knows is going to do real damage to our economy, our society and prospects, livelihoods and living standards for a long time to come.

“It is beyond outrageous, and MPs have to come together to do something about this.”

She said the priority had to be MPs seizing control of Commons business to pass a law to avoid no-deal but “frankly anything that can stop this has to be up for discussion”.

She said: “The opposition parties came up with a plan yesterday. There is a narrow window next week to try to take control of business in the House of Commons and then pass primary legislation, and that has to be something that all MPs come behind. 

“I think there’s a particular question for Scottish Tory MPs. We keep hearing that Ruth Davidson opposes a no-deal Brexit. Well today frankly is the day she really has to say what she and her Tory MP colleagues are going to do to stop a no-deal Brexit.”

The First Minister also said a vote of no confidence had to remain an option.

Downing Street said that even if Mr Johnson lost such a vote he would remain PM and call a snap election for the first week of October, allowing Brexit to happen by default.

Ms Sturgeon said: “My message to Boris Johnson on an election - if he’s got the courage of his convictions then bring an election on. 

“But have polling day before the 31st of October so that people across the UK can have the opportunity to vote. If he’s not prepared to do that, then the question is what exactly is he frightened of? He’s acting like some kind of tin-pot dictator. It is not acceptable.

“If MPs don’t stop it, it is no exaggeration, it is no hyperbole, to say this is the day any semblance of UK parliamentary democracy dies.”

She said it was parliament’s job to stop Mr Johnson, not the Queen’s.

“We’re told the House of Commons - some of us have been quite cynical about this for a long time - is the mother of parliaments, the sovereignty of the House of Commons is all.

“Well there has never been a more important moment, probably in my entire lifetime, for the House of Commons to prove that.

“We’ve got a very narrow window of opportunity next week, and if it doesn’t take it, the implications for the UK, not just UK democracy, but probably for the UK per se, are profound.”

Asked where the PM’s move left the debate on Scottish independence, she said it made it all the more important for Scotland to have the ability to become an independent democracy.

She said: “If people previously suggested to me that a Westminster government conceivably could shut down the Scottish Parliament, I’ve always said, ‘Well, just because in theory they could do that let’s not be silly, they’re not likely to do that in practice.’

“This is a UK government that is showing today it has no respect for constitutional norms. It’s no longer ridiculous to say that a Prime Minister that’s prepared to shut down the House of Commons wouldn’t be prepared to do that to the Scottish Parliament."