BRIDGWATER and West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger has given his backing to Theresa May to be Britain's new Prime Minister.

Andrea Leadsom’s surprise withdrawal from the Tory leadership race is the best possible news the country could have had, the Conservative MP said.

Mr Liddell-Grainger said it would have been ‘unthinkable’ to have endured a protracted contest right through to September when there was such an obvious and urgent need for stability to be restored.

“We in this country have taken the biggest collective political decision for decades and one which has altered the whole spectrum of political life,” he said.

“The last thing the country or the party needed was a summer spent wrangling when our greatest need is to restore confidence and to start working urgently on reshaping the way the UK runs and adjusting to life outside the EU.

“Theresa May was clearly the outstanding candidate and she commands a great deal of respect, both within her party, within the country and internationally.

“David Cameron will be handing over to a very safe pair of hands. At a purely local level I shall be writing to Mrs May immediately to acquaint her with the issues such as flooding which have required Prime Ministerial attention in the last few years and looking to her to pledge her own support for a long-term solution to the problems we still face in Somerset.”