TFA Analysis: New Prime Minister, Cabinet and Policy Direction

Summary

On 13 July 2016, following ’s departure from Number 10 and ’s decision to stand down form the Conservative Party leadership contest, became the new Conservative Party leader and the UK’s second female Prime Minister taking charge of Government at one of the most turbulent times in British political and economic history.

In her acceptance speech she confirmed a bold statement of intent talking of social justice and promising to make the UK a “country that works for everyone” not just a privileged few. May also spoke very passionately about her Unionist values and of the importance of the Union not just between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but of all citizen’s throughout the UK. She promised that as the UK leaves the EU she would seek to forge a “bold new positive role for the UK throughout the World”.

Mrs May moved immediately to radically reshape the Cabinet with leading Brexiteers appointed to key Cabinet positions including as Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office; David Davies as Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union; and as Secretary of State for International Trade. May also announced ’s appointment as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Hammond replaces who left the Government on the same day as the Prime Minister.

Notable appointments in a completely reshaped Cabinet include: , ; , Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities; Elizabeth Truss, and Secretary of State for Justice; , Secretary of State for Work and Pensions; Andrea Leadsom, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; , Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government; , Secretary of State for Transport; , Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and , Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. retains responsibility for Health and for Defence. Those leaving the Government include: ; ; ; and .

Her reputation as a strong leader and tough but calm negotiator will be severely tested as she faces the challenge of steering the UK through the “Article 50” process to agree the terms of departure from the EU; and to forge new trading relationships with the rest of the World on the global stage.

Her “unchallenged coronation” will undoubtedly lead to calls for an early General Election that could give her a new mandate ahead of the commencement of the EU negotiation process (expected to commence next year). However, Mrs May has indicated that this is unlikely at this stage commenting that the UK needs a period of stability ahead of the . She could however be tempted to go early and seek a fresh mandate should survive the current Labour Leadership contest with and Owen Smith.

Mrs May will need to perform a very difficult “balancing act” to ensure that she retains the support of Brexiteers and Remain supporters not just in the Cabinet but throughout the wider Conservative Party. She will also be mindful of the current slender working majority of 18 votes that she has inherited from David Cameron that separate success from defeat; and will need to ensure that she keeps the 84 MPs who supported Andrea Leadsom onside in order to prevent damaging Parliamentary defeats in her first 100 days.

Mrs May believes in social justice and mobility and critiques the economy for helping the few not the many, echoing at the 2015 General Election. Under a Theresa May Premiership we are likely to see a reshaped Government with a new focus on global trade; responsible capitalism; social justice; new proposals on executive pay; and measures to tackle predatory takeovers. She is also expected to develop a refocused industrial strategy and to continue the devolution policy agenda with proposals to develop all the great cities in the UK. Indeed, May has made it clear that she will prioritise a new “One Nation” centrist manifesto targeting policies to help those who feel that they have “lost control over their day to day lives”.

Our briefing paper provides background information on the new Prime Minister, her advisers, and key Cabinet appointments; and provides analysis and commentary on the expected policy direction of the new Theresa May Premiership.

Theresa May - Prime Minister

Born in Eastbourne in 1956, May was educated at primary and grammar schools in Oxfordshire, before studying geography at Oxford. Between 1977 and 1983, she worked at the Bank of England, where she rose to the Head of the European Affairs Unit of the Association for Payment Clearing Services. She married investment banker, Philip May, in 1980 and, in 1986, was elected as a councillor to Merton Council in London for eight years. In that time, she held the position of deputy leader of the Conservative Group and also chaired the Education Committee.

After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to enter Parliament, in 1999, she found herself in the Shadow Cabinet only two years after becoming the MP for Maidenhead, being appointed Shadow Education and Employment Secretary. May was also appointed the first female Chairman of the Conservative Party in July 2002. More recently, she quadrupled her majority to 29,059 in the latest General Election and was also the longest-serving Home Secretary for over 60 years. She has taken hard positions on immigration and the UK’s policing in her time as Home Secretary.

Her career in Westminster has been varied and alongside her Shadow Education role, roles as Shadow Minister for Transport, Local Government and Regions, Culture, Media and Sport, Leader of the House and Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions give her a formidable CV. She also managed to juggle between her Home Secretary role and her Minister for Women and Equalities role for two years between 2010 and 2012.

May brands herself as a ‘One Nation Conservative’ and a ‘Liberal Conservative’ and has a reputation as a ruthless politician that gets on with the job. She supported the UK remaining in the EU but kept herself reasonably quiet throughout the campaign. Nevertheless, May was quoted as saying the EU was ‘far from perfect’ during the campaign and has now promised that ‘Brexit means Brexit’. Key Advisers

Nick Timothy Former Special Adviser to Mrs May at the Home Office, Timothy was a PPC until he was blocked from running in a safe seat by Downing Street before the last election. He fleshed out his views in a series of columns for the Conservative Home website, allowing greater analysis of the overlap between his policy agenda and that of the Home Secretary.

Born and raised in a working-class family in Birmingham, he joined the Conservatives because they talked about the need to promote social mobility and acted on it. He is a Chamberlain Conservative — influenced by Joe Chamberlain, the 19th-century businessman and liberal mayor of Birmingham turned Tory politician and might just be responsible for an expected change of direction on business policy under new Prime Minister May. Last year Sajid Javid, the former Secretary of State for BIS, stated: “I don’t particularly like the word strategy coupled with industrial.” That approach is expected to change with Mrs May promising a “proper” industrial strategy. Timothy is also a strong believer in shifting support away from financial services to helping a wider range of industry sectors.

Fiona Hill Former Special Adviser to Mrs May at the Home Office, Hill also worked with Mrs May at the start of her Ministerial career and jointly chaired her leadership campaign with Nick Timothy. During her time as a Special Adviser at the Home Office, Hill helped to put modern slavery at the heart of the Home Secretary’s policy agenda.

Hill ensured that Home Office officials focused on the immigrant slave trade, closing loopholes and creating laws against the practice. While her influence is widely acknowledged to be significant, she kept counsel about her views in public.

Key Cabinet appointments

Michael Fallon – Secretary of State for Defence

Michael Fallon was initially the Conservative MP for Darlington from 1983 to 1992. After leaving Parliament, he was then re-elected as the MP for Sevenoaks in 1997. Michael has held several ministerial positions during his Westminster career, including minister in the Department for Education and Science, Minister for Business and Enterprise, as well as for Energy. In his career outside of politics he directed several companies, such as Bannatyne Fitness and Quality Care Homes.

Fallon is considered a steady hand in Government. He also supported Remain during the EU referendum campaign and gave Mrs May his backing during the leadership contest.

Liam Fox – Secretary of State for International Trade

Liam Fox has been given a newly created position of Secretary of State for International Trade. The appointment means he re-joins the ranks of Conservatives heavyweights after being sacked as the Defence Secretary in 2011. He was forced to resign five years ago after allowing his friend and best man Adam Werritty to take on an unofficial and undeclared role as his adviser. He allowed Mr Werritty to attend meetings at the Ministry of Defence without obtaining the necessary security clearance and join him for meeting with foreign dignitaries.

Mr Fox admitted he had made an error of judgment and took a back seat in the political realm, until the EU referendum where he was a prominent Brexiteer.

Fox is seen as a competent choice for a return to Government, having run as a possible leader himself. Although he was unsuccessful and was eliminated in the first round after getting the support of only 16 MPs, he suggested that during his brief leadership campaign, that Britain might not leave the EU until 2019. Fox will primarily be tasked with renegotiating trade agreements with other countries to prepare for the eventual departure of the UK from the EU.

David Davis – Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union

David Davis was given another newly created position of Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. Details about the new Brexit department are unknown, but it is likely that it will take a leading role in negotiating Britain’s departure from the EU and unpicking EU rules written into UK law.

He is a veteran Eurosceptic who has previously held positions of Conservative Party Chairman and Shadow Deputy Prime Minister. Between 2003 and 2008, he was the under both and David Cameron. Despite Eurosceptic views, he acted as a whip for during the battle to ratify the Maastricht Treaty.

Ms May’s decision to put Mr Davis in this position comes despite him pursuing legal action in the European courts against surveillance laws she introduced. He is a libertarian who has never been afraid to speak his mind, even if his opinions fell outside the party line, and thus is likely to be a strong personality in the new cabinet. He believes the UK should not trigger Article 50 too early in order for the country to negotiate an amicable deal. Davis will have a great deal of control over a newly- made, and much needed, department to aid the UK in its exit from the EU. May has emphasised her commitment to exiting the EU and it will be Davis, along with Liam Fox, who will be leading the negotiation process.

Philip Hammond - Chancellor of the Exchequer

Philip Hammond has been the MP for Weybridge since 1997 and has held a series of senior cabinet posts since the formation of the .

He was the Transport Secretary between 2010 and 2011, and then Defence Secretary between 2011 and 2014. He then became , a position he held for two years (2014 - July 2016). Prior to the Conservatives being in Government, Philip held Shadow Ministerial positions, namely Shadow Work and Pensioners Minister, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Shadow Communities and Local Government Minister.

Whilst Philip campaigned to remain in the EU, he had made Eurosceptic remarks during David Cameron’s negotiations in the months preceding the referendum on June 23rd.

Following his appointment, he has announced that there will be no emergency Brexit budget. He will deliver an Autumn Statement as usual later this year. This puts him at odds with his predecessor George Osborne. Hammond also added that the UK would definitely leave the European Single Market, but would then negotiate to re- join it.

Boris Johnson - Foreign Secretary

Boris Johnson is currently in his second stint as an MP. He was MP for Henley between 2001 and 2008, and quit his role to take up the position of Mayor London, which he served from 2008 until 2016. He is now the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, and has twice been Shadow Business, Innovation and Skills Minster, first in 2004 for 6 months, and secondly between 2005 and 2007.

Boris very quickly became a figurehead of the official Brexit campaign – Vote Leave – as the referendum campaign gained momentum. After the result was declared, and given that David Cameron had backed the Remain camp, Boris was a likely successor as Prime Minster. However, he was swift to rule that option out, but now has secured himself one of the most senior posts in British Politics – for now, at least.

Boris’s position is already challenged by several controversial statements he has made about other countries and their leaders in the past. Along with having to navigate these tensions, the indefatigable Johnson will have to deal with the impending prospect of the UK leaving the EU and the associated changes to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from the new Exiting the European Union and International Trade departments.

Amber Rudd - Home Secretary Amber Rudd has been the MP for Hastings and Rye since 2010, and has held a series of senior posts in her relatively short time as an MP. She spent a year as an assistant whip for the Treasury (2013-2014), a year as Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Department for Energy and Climate Change (2014- 2015), and in the current Conservative government was the Energy Secretary between 2015-2016.

Amber campaigned to remain in the EU and believes we have gained a great deal from being in the Union. In her new post, she will now continue the work of the former Home Secretary – Theresa May – on a potential points-based immigration system as the UK leaves the EU. Once Cameron resigned, Rudd was quick to declare her support for May and has benefitted from May’s emphasis on appointing women to her new Cabinet.

Liz Truss – Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

Liz Truss, South West Norfolk MP has been made the new Justice Secretary, replacing Michael Gove. She entered Parliament in 2010 and was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education and Childcare in September 2012. Prior to her political career, Ms Truss was Deputy Director at Reform. She also worked in the energy and telecommunications industry for 10 years as a commercial manager and economic director.

Liz campaigned for Britain to remain in the EU during the referendum campaign. She is a big supporter of the single market and issued warnings about the impact Brexit will have on people’s jobs and livelihoods. Nevertheless, following the vote she subsequently joined Ms May in saying that ‘Brexit means Brexit’.

Justine Greening – Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities

Justine Greening is the first education secretary to have attended a comprehensive school. She lists vocational education as a political interest, which is consistent with the decision to move higher and further education (including skills and Apprenticeships) into the Department for Education.

Prior to her political career, Greening worked as an accountant and finance manager. In 2005, she won her seat of and entered the Cabinet for the first time in 2011 as Secretary of State for Transport.

Greening campaigned to remain in the EU and was a strong supporter of Theresa May during her leadership campaign. Greening confirmed she was in a same-sex relationship at the recent Pride festival in London, making her the first LGBT person in Government. She is considered to be a close ally of May.

Patrick McLoughlin – Conservative Party Chairman

Patrick McLoughlin is the Member of Parliament for Derbyshire Dales. In Government, he has held several positions, including Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Trade and Industry and Government Whip. In opposition, he served as Chief Whip from 2005 and 2010 and was appointed to the Privy Council in 2005.

He was appointed Chief Whip in the Coalition government in 2010 before becoming Transport Secretary. Theresa May, in her cabinet re-shuffle, appointed Mr McLoughlin as the Chairman of Conservative Party.

The chairman role is to oversee the running of the party and his appointment signals a move away from Mr Cameron’s ‘Cabinet of Toffs’. Mr McLoughlin is the third in a long line of miners and also worked as a farm hand during his youth.

Gavin Williamson – Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)

Gavin Williamson has said he is ‘very privileged’ to be handed the role of Chief Whip. A serial Parliamentary Private Secretary for , Patrick McLoughlin and David Cameron, he will now be responsible for ensuring his party’s manifesto priorities make their way through Parliament.

He won his seat of South in 2010 and then increased his majority in 2015 to a very healthy 20,371. Previously he has turned down junior minister roles so that he could continue as the Prime Minister’s PPS.

He is known to be an advocate of engineering and manufacturing and used his to this effect; calling for more manufacturing experience in the House of Commons. In the past, he has voted against same-sex marriage and to relax the smoking ban in pubs.

Jeremy Hunt – Secretary of State for Health

Jeremy Hunt is to stay on in Theresa May’s government as Health Secretary. He is one of the few who managed to retain his position in the re-shuffle. Mr Hunt is the UK’s longest-serving health secretary, having taken the role in 2012. Prior to this, he held the post of Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, Shadow Culture Secretary and Shadow Minister for Disabled People.

Initially, he was allegedly brought in to keep the NHS out of the headlines following his predecessor ’s hugely unpopular reforms of the NHS. However, it wasn’t long until he went into a battle with junior doctors, a dispute which is still largely unresolved.

Jeremy Hunt was educated at Oxford University and gained a personal fortune through his publishing company, Hotcourses, prior to entering the political realm.

Chris Grayling – Secretary of State for Transport

Chris Grayling has been the Conservative MP for Epsom and Ewell since 2001, and has held numerous Shadow Ministerial and, more recently, several ministerial posts.

During the Blair and Brown years, Chris was Shadow Health, Education, Transport, Work and Pensions, and Home Affairs Minister, as well as Opposition Whip and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons.

During the coalition years, he was Work and Pensions Minister (2010 - 2012) and subsequently Justice Minister (2012-2015). Between 2015 and July 2016, he was the Leader of the Common and is now Transport Secretary. He faces difficult decisions on Heathrow and High Speed Rail.

Andrea Leadsom – Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Andrea Leadsom has been the MP for South Northamptonshire since 2010.

She quickly became Economic Secretary to the Treasury in 2014, staying in that role for a year. Prior to that, she was on the Public Accounts Select Committee between 2014 and 2015, and the Treasury Committee in 2010 – 2014.

In the recent Conservative Party leadership election, she became one of the two final candidates, the other being the current leader and Prime Minster, Theresa May. She backed out of the campaign four days after the final ballot of MPs, citing a lack of support from MPs. She is a former banker and is considered strong on environmental policy issues.

Sajid Javid – Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

Sajid Javid has been moved from Business, Innovation and Skills to the Department of Communities and Local Government. A close ally of George Osborne, he replaces fellow ex-Treasury Minister Greg Clark.

Before entering politics, Javid was a Managing Director of Deutsche Bank. He won his seat of Bromsgrove in 2010 and has held a number of high profile positions since, including Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Minister for Equalities, Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Economic Secretary.

Javid stood alongside on a ‘joint ticket’ in the Conservative leadership election.

James Brokenshire – Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

James Brokenshire has been appointed as new Northern Ireland Secretary. He is the Member of Parliament for Old Bexley and Sidcup. From May 2011 to May 2015, Brokenshire served as Security Minister at the Home Office with responsibility for domestic national security and counter .

Most famously he led negotiations with the Jordanian government in relation to a cleric Abu Qatada, who was eventually deported. May thought the deportation of Qatada was a triumph for Britain and this is perhaps where her relationship and trust for Brokenshire developed.

In 2014, Brokenshire was promoted to Minister of State, with emphasis given to immigration. He blamed the EU for the Conservative’s lack of significant progress in reducing net immigration. Nevertheless, during the EU referendum campaign, he backed the Remain campaign stating that it was in the UK’s economic and security interests to remain an active player in the European Union.

David Lidington - Leader of the House of Commons

David Lidington was made the leader of the House of Commons having formerly been Minister of State for Europe.

Lidington’s track record is fairly restrained; only mildly Eurosceptic, he supported the Maastricht Treaty, with reservations. Under pressure from his constituents he opposed the HS2 high-speed rail link, which would affect his area. He suggested that the scheme should be scrapped and the funds used for other transport infrastructure projects. He was also one of ten Government ministers who voted against same-sex marriage in 2013.

He played a key role in EU negotiations prior to the referendum and campaigned to remain in. He said that ‘the free market European arrest warrant and being able to influence such a massive bloc which has a really powerful voice in the world were all good reasons to remain in.' Thus he joins many other Remainers in the new cabinet.

David Mundell - Secretary of State for Scotland

David Mundell MP is one of the three members of the Cabinet who have stayed in their position. He is the only Conservative MP in Scotland, representing Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale and was unsurprisingly the choice for Secretary of State for Scotland after the general election in 2015. He is also a Member of the Scottish Parliament, representing South of Scotland, which he has done since 2003.

Prior to this he served as Parliamentary Under Secretary for Scotland during the entirety of the coalition years, and the Shadow Scotland Secretary between 2005 and 2010. During the same period, he was a member of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee.

He is a Solicitor and formerly worked for BT.

David Gauke - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

David Gauke was first elected to represent South West Hertfordshire in 2005, and has held three senior governmental positions since – all in the finance sector. He spent three years as Shadow Minister to the Treasury (2007 - 2010), then four years as Exchequer Secretary during the coalition years (2010 – 2014).

Due to his finance-based positions and committee memberships in Westminster politics, and the fact that he is a qualified solicitor and worked for a City law firm prior to becoming an MP, this appointment is no surprise. He is now responsible for items like the EU budget.

Greg Clark – Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Greg Clark was the former Communities and Local Government Secretary but has been moved to this new role in what many would consider a promotion.

Greg Clark’s department is a newly named department, which has now acquired responsibility for energy. Previously there was the Department for Energy and Climate Change, although commentators are wondering where that leaves the remit of Climate Change.

Clark has always been in the “remain” camp with regards to the EU referendum and this has possibly helped him in keeping favour with the new Prime Minister.

Greg has virtually swapped roles with Sajid Javid, who is the new Communities and Local Government Secretary, whilst adding energy to the remit.

Greg is a firm supporter of Theresa May and re-affirmed this at a recent conference in Manchester. He believes her to be the future “champion of the North”.

Damian Green - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Damian Green has been appointed Work and Pensions Secretary. He takes over the position from Stephen Crabb, who resigned from the position earlier today. Green was the Immigration Minister in the coalition government, when he set about trying to implement a robust immigration policy, promising to crack down on migrant’s ‘benefits culture’ and saying the Government only wanted to admit people who would ‘add to the quality of life in Britain’. After two years in the post, he was re-shuffled to be Minister of State for Policing.

Green represents the left wing of the Conservative Party. The 2014 Cabinet reshuffle ended Green’s time on the frontbench. He was a member of the cross-party Britain Stronger in Europe group, which fought for Britain to remain in the EU. Recently he declared his support for Theresa May as the next Conservative Party Leader.

Priti Patel – Secretary of State for International Development

Priti was formerly the employment minister who has taken this role despite calling for the department to be scrapped in 2013. Priti has made no secret that she is a Brexit supporter and this new appointment reaffirms the claims that May is willing to forgive and forget those who have gone against the Tory party and its beliefs recently.

Some are asking whether Priti has been given this role simply due to the fact that she is female and May has vowed to have an equal cabinet. Priti follows Justine Greening who has been moved to the role of Education Minister.

Karen Bradley - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Karen has succeeded John Whittingdale to make it onto Theresa May’s first Cabinet.

Karen said that she voted for remain in the EU referendum telling her constituents in an open letter that the “positive, patriotic and passionate response” was to vote to stay within the EU.as well as for equal rights on marriage previously.

Since being elected in 2010 Karen has remained relatively low key until today.

Alun Cairns - Secretary of State for Wales

Alun was a Remain campaigner in the recent EU referendum campaign. He was appointed Secretary of State for Wales in March 2016 and was kept on in the same role in today’s reshuffle. He has been an MP for Vale of Glamorgan since 2010 after taking his seat from Labour. Before politics, he worked for Lloyds Banking Group as a Business Development Consultant, before being elected to the Welsh Assembly.

Expected policy direction

Machinery of Government changes May has created two new departments: International Trade Development and Leaving the European Union. This could present a challenge to the power base of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In practice, the new Leaving the European Union department is more likely to be a legal hub to guide Brexit through Whitehall and the new International Trade Department is expected to take the lead in negotiating new global trade deals as well as being a contact point for the UK’s embassy network overseas.

Changes to the machinery of government have also affected the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, as it loses responsibility for trade policy to the new International Trade Department and skills and Apprenticeship policy to the Department for Education; and is merged with the Department for Energy and Climate Change to create a new Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Early General Election May has said that there will not be an election before 2020. However, if Jeremy Corbyn stays as Labour leader pressure will quickly build for her to go to the country to give her a clear mandate ahead of the Brexit negotiations.

Emergency Budget New Chancellor, Philip Hammond has ruled out the prospect of an emergency Budget. He has confirmed that he will work very closely with the Bank of England throughout the summer to tackle the “very difficult circumstances that we now face, in advance of this year’s autumn statement”. Hammond added that the “economy has had a shock” and that the new government will “face some challenges in the short term in managing the economy”.

EU Brexit The EU Brexit negotiation process is expected to commence next year and will be led by David Davis the new Secretary of State for Leaving the European Union. As a committed Brexiteer, Davis will ensure that he makes “Brexit a success”. The new government will however will face real policy tests including whether to end the right for EU citizens to work in the UK and whether the UK will have to pay for access to the single market.

Foreign policy The first major foreign trip scheduled is the G20 in China in September, which President Obama will attend for the last time. However, Mrs May is likely to want to do a series of European bilateral meetings before then. Given the scale of the challenge facing Ireland and the border, she may wish as a matter of urgency to reassure the Irish government that she is making that relationship a priority.

She is also expected to take a different approach from George Osborne to China. Indeed, her key adviser, Nick Timothy, a critic of George Osborne’s approach to China, has previously stated that the “government is selling our national security to China”.

Industrial strategy May is expected to bring forward a new industrial strategy focusing on targeting excess in corporate Britain. Such an approach could include new policy proposals to ensure that workers have representation on company boards; and making shareholder votes on executive pay binding. May has also criticised George Osborne’s tenure at HM Treasury and has highlighted ongoing productivity issues in the UK economy and proposed that HM Treasury project bonds could be used to boast infrastructure projects.

Taking a similar approach to Ed Miliband, May has also called for government to block predatory takeovers of key companies and has promised to tackle tax evasion. Keen to promote social justice, May has also indicated that she would like to broaden the experience of company board directors and adopt a tougher approach to executive pay and the growing gap between what companies pay their workers and executives.

Transport David Cameron opted to delay the final decision on a third runway for Heathrow for his successor to take. Mrs May has previously expressed concerns over flight noise issues and has been portrayed by some commentators as an opponent of Heathrow expansion.

She has always voted in favour of High Speed Two and has argued that it is necessary to enhance economic growth.

Trident There is a Parliamentary vote scheduled on the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent for Monday 18th July. May is a firm supporter of retaining the Trident nuclear capability.

Devolution Mrs May confirmed her position as a committed Unionist in her acceptance speech on the 13th July and can be expected to continue to hold the line that the best future for Scotland is inside the United Kingdom. Her government is expected to not be supportive of ’s proposal that Scotland should have a different relationship than the rest of the UK with the EU.

As a former councillor, Mrs May does however have strong local government and “localist” credentials and has spoken of her desire to continue the current devolution agenda by developing proposals to support all major cities in the UK.

Immediate next steps

Wednesday 13th to Sunday 17th July Appoints Downing Street team and conducts a full reshuffle of Government Ministers

Monday 18th July 2016 Vote on Trident renewal expected to take place in Parliament

Tuesday 19th July 2016 Mrs May will chair her first Cabinet meeting

Wednesday 20th July 2016 Mrs May will take her first PMQs as Prime Minister

Parliament rises for summer recess. New consultations and White Papers expected to be published

Thursday 21st July – Monday 5th September 2016 Summer Recess

August 2016 Meetings with EU Heads of State

Sunday 4th September – Monday 5th September 2016 G20 meeting in China

Wednesday 5th October 2016 Mrs May will make her first speech to Conservative Party Conference as Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister

Thursday 20th and Friday 21st October Attends first EU Council meeting