The Conservatives could have won the election if the party had adopted some of the policies in the deal with the Democratic Unionist Party to support the minority Tory Government, a former party chairman has said.

Grant Shapps, who chaired the party from 2012 to 2015, said on Twitter that Theresa May could have secured a majority in this month's general election with the policies the DUP asked her to scrap.

The £1billion deal with the Northern Irish party was signed today which forced Mrs May to scrap unpopular parts of her manifesto including the change to Winter Fuel Payments, scrapping the triple-lock on pensions and the new social care policy.

Critics claimed that these policies had resulted in the Tories failing to win a majority at the June 7 general election.

Mr Shapps, who was also a minister for international development wrote on Twitter: "Hmm. No change to Winter Fuel Payments, Triple-Lock Pensions & LongTerm care. With this manifesto, we could have had a stonking majority!"