MPs will attend Parliament for the first time after the forthcoming General Election on Tuesday December 17.

The Queen has issued a proclamation on the advice of the Prime Minister, calling for the new Parliament to commence just five days after the poll takes place on December 12.

It comes amid speculation over whether there would be time for a potential Conservative majority government to ratify Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal before the January 31 deadline.

The City of London Corporation’s Common Cryer and Serjeant-at-Arms, Colonel Geoffrey Godbold, read the royal proclamation to summon a new parliament.

The centuries-old tradition took place on the steps of the Royal Exchange in the City of London.

The Conservatives’ plan is to get the Bill completed in time for Brexit on January 31.

For this to happen, a new version of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill would have to be introduced in the new Parliament and go back to the beginning of its passage.

The UK could leave the EU before the new deadline agreed by EU leaders if a deal is approved by Parliament by then.

The December 17 start date gives MPs just under six weeks to ratify a Brexit deal before the deadline, without taking into account any Christmas recess break.

In 2007, the Select Committee on the Modernisation of the House of Commons recommended that there should be 12 days between a general election and the beginning of a new Parliament.

However, there were also five days between the snap general election in 2017 and the commencement of business in the Commons.