Five most powerful people in Britain are now women, Professor Stephen Hawking has said, claiming there has been a ‘seismic shift’ in gender equality.

The 75-year-old astrophysicist said that the Queen, Prime Minister Theresa May, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick were evidence that times had changed.

However he argued that the private sector was yet to catch up.

“I welcome these signs of women’s liberation,” he said on an interview with Piers Morgan for ITV's Good Morning Britain.

“But there may still be a gap between those women achieving high public status and those in the private sector.