It was incredibly sad for me to have to announce my resignation as a government minister. This was an extraordinarily difficult decision and one that I am devastated to have had to take. But it comes down to the fact that I felt I had no other choice.

I loved being a minister and will miss the role. I consider the prime minister to be a good friend and I fully support her leadership of our party and our country.

However, I have felt over recent months that Brexit has consumed government. The prime minister’s inspiring words on the steps of Downing Street that held so much promise of strong action to tackle our country’s “burning injustices” have not been able to mobilise the effort