Theresa May has launched an appeal for MPs, peers and party members to submit 1,000 policy ideas to form the basis of the Conservative party's bid to win the next general election.

The Prime Minister has announced she has set up a new Conservative Policy Commission in the biggest overhaul of the party's policy thinking in more than a decade, personally appealing to Brexit voters in particular to offer up their own ideas.

The new Commission, chaired by Chris Skidmore MP, has been charged with developing the ideas in time for the Tory party conference next year.

The next general election is expected in 2022 but the relatively short timetable means Mrs May will be presented with a ready-made policy platform if she chooses to call an early election in the months after Britain quits the European Union next year.

It provides increasing evidence that Mrs May is planning to fight the next election as leader, and not stand down as many in her own party expect after she lost the party's Commons majority at the 2017 poll.

The Commission is the first major overhaul of the party's thinking since Mrs May's predecessor David Cameron set up his own policy commission in 2006.

It will oversee the work of five policy taskforces which will examine "energising the economy", "transforming our public services", "shaping a global Britain", "building a fairer society" and "sustaining our democracy".