Philip Dunne, MP for Ludlow, retained his seat with the highest majority in the constituency's history in this general election.

He has now re-iterated his support for Theresa May as Prime Minster despite the Conservative's majority in parliament, unlike his own, coming out significantly reduced after the election.

He said: "Obviously, the result nationally was not what we had hoped for, but the Conservatives increased our vote share by 6.5 per cent to almost 14 million and are the largest party by a clear margin."

He said that included both the number of seat and the number of overall votes.

"We made significant progress in Scotland winning 13 seats showing our unionist message resonated with voters," he added.

"We know the challenges our country faces over the next few years, the most crucial of which is the critical goal of getting the best possible deal for Britain as we leave the European Union.

"We need to focus on pressing ahead with these negotiations with the EU now. I will work to support a deal that is in the best interests of south Shropshire and the United Kingdom," he said.

He has also said that even with a reduced majority but May still has authority in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations.

"She is the Prime Minister, she'll be leading the county and she'll have a strong cabinet who have been preparing for this moment since last June so we know where we're going and we need to get on with it," he said.

"She is absolutely the right person to take us forward into these negotiations and to lead the country."

With a partnership with the DUP on the cards, he added that said in his experience working in coalition meant both parties tried to put aside differences to find common ground to make the government work.

He said: "When parties work together to form a stable government they try and reach agreement on the critical issues that come up day by day, week by week in politics, in order to provide the stability the country needs.

"And that's what I think the nature of the relationship will be, in particular to get us through this critical negotiation with the EU," he said.