Andrea Leadsom has announced that parliament's week-long recess in February has been cancelled in order to deal with the sheer amount of Brexit legislation.

The Commons leader made the announcement to MPs, as her cabinet colleague, the foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, admitted the day Britain formally leaves the EU may have to be delayed.

The House was expected to rise at the end of business on February 14 and return on February 25.

But speaking in the chamber on Thursday, Ms Leadsom said she had no intention to bring forward a motion on February recess dates and said MPs "may therefore need to continue to sit to make progress" on Brexit legislation.

"I realise that this is short notice for colleagues and house staff but I do think our constituents will expect that the house is able to continue to make progress at this important time," the cabinet minister said.

Ms Leadsom also apologised for the inconvenience and said “nobody will be out pocket” if they are forced to cancel long-standing plans.

In response, Valerie Vaz, shadow leader of the Commons, criticised the decision to cancel recess, saying the government is "staggering from one week to the next".

The Labour frontbencher said: "I cannot possibly imagine what MPs are going through with this announcement.

"Can the leader of the House please say ... what provision will be given to MPs for their children?

"It can't be right that MPs have to support their children in that way without the Government stepping in and providing provision for it."

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Hunt echoed Ms Leadsom's concerns about the need to pass the necessary legislation before the UK leaves the EU on 29 March - in just 57 days' time.

The cabinet minister also added that the government may even need "extra time" beyond the official deadline as became the most senior member of Theresa May's top team to admit to a possible extension of Article 50.

Britain Before Brexit: Northeast England Show all 12 1 /12 Britain Before Brexit: Northeast England Britain Before Brexit: Northeast England Middlesbrough After midnight, New Year’s Eve. A girl looks at her phone and smokes, framed against a line-up of antiquated postcard features of Britain. She’s the most authentic part of the scene, however, a glimpse of modern Britain, while the red phone box belongs to the past Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northeast England Middlesbrough I walk through a field by the industrial estate where several horses live chained to the ground. They feed on thinning grass. The Transporter Bridge lies in the background: an emblem of movement and motion and crossing divides, like a cruel joke played on the animals, stuck and fixed and static Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northeast England Middlesbrough The first second of 2019, welcomed with with a kiss, a hug, with stares and smiles, with a shot thrown down a throat, with phones and photos and forgetting Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northeast England Middlesbrough Shoes hang from lines of communication, sagging between houses, pulling down on the words and silences that somehow run through these black wires. It reminded me of the view from my bedroom window in Poland Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northeast England Middlesbrough A queue to keep going, into the night, further into 2019 before sleeping. Vape rises distinctly, a new sight on the street in the last few years, bringing atmospheric emissions to the image. There’s sweat and purpose and promise Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northeast England Middlesbrough I’m struck by this naming and shaming, by the identification of supposed disloyalty, clearly marking the public space of the city for all to see, whether they care or not, whether they know or not Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northeast England Hartlepool A view from inside the Market Hall, looking out, onto another person sitting on the street and another person faced with the experience of walking by. Both lower their heads, as if in acknowledgement of the difficulty of the situation Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northeast England Hartlepool I walk to the end of a long jetty by the marina. Fisherman stand at the furthest tip, waiting for a bite, looking to the horizon where faint puffs of smoke appear and vanish from factories further down the east coast Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northeast England Seaham Dwelling spaces of the dead and the living, closer than usual, occupying the same public space, both observable in one view, the burial ground of the local church acting as a garden for the housing estate behind Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northeast England Sunderland A walk by the River Wear is comically framed from the Wearmouth Bridge, a view unavailable to the couple, who probably have no idea they’re walking into shot. Some things just cannot be appreciated at ground level and can only be seen from above Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northeast England Sunderland Somebody once wrote this on a wall. That’s all. But now it’s part of the scene, part of the view, part of the experience of walking up High Street West into town. It’s tiny and anonymous, but noticeable and affecting Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northeast England Sunderland Three elements of the city: a flapping pigeon; an austere grey tower block; purchasable sex Richard Morgan/The Independent

Asked about Britain's exit date, Mr Hunt told the Today programme: "I think that depends on how long this process takes.

"I think it is true that if we ended up approving a deal in the days before 29 March then we might need some extra time to pass critical legislation. But if we are able to make progress sooner then that might not be necessary.