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Theresa May described Thursday’s local election results as a “strong night” for the Conservatives after her party made ground across the country.

High ranking Tories said the Prime Minister had a stronger authority than ever to press ahead with a clean break from the bloc.

Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said: “Leave voters have stayed with her and that’s really important but they also have a demand and that is why messing around with these complicated models for Brexit is wrong.

“If we end up making massive compromises and if we keep caving in we are going to lose these people.

“But there is also an opportunity because if she gets this right she will have two clear years of ‘normal’ politics before the next election, and Labour could be in cataclysmic meltdown by then.