Prime Minister Theresa May: What are her views on key policies?
What the UK's new leader thinks about everything from immigration and the economy to gay rights, the environment and Brexit

Theresa May becomes the UK's Prime Minister today after her only remaining rival in the Tory leadership race, Andrea Leadsom, dropped out earlier this week.
David Cameron holds his final Prime Minister's Questions this afternoon and May will be in office by the evening.
Regarded as one of the party's more liberal high-profile figures, she describes herself as a "one-nation conservative". So what does she stand for and how has she voted in the past?
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
May officially supported the Remain camp, but says she accepts the vote of the people and that "Brexit is Brexit". She has vowed to be "bloody difficult" with EU bosses in negotiations and wants an "orderly" exit, pledging not to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty before the end of 2016.
Immigration
In 2010, her first year as Home Secretary, May pledged to bring net immigration down to less than 100,000. In 2015, it had reached 330,000. Earlier this year, she limited permanent non-EU immigration to people making more than £35,000 a year.
Education
May voted in favour of raising the tuition fee cap to £9,000 a year. However, she initially voted against introducing the fees.
Economy
May has consistently voted for cuts in welfare spending and supported the controversial "bedroom tax". She has also presided over huge budget cuts to the police service.
Foreign policy
May voted in favour of the interventions in Iraq in 2003 and for action in Syria in 2013 (which was vetoed) and again in 2015 (which went through). She wants to replace Trident with a new nuclear weapons system.
Gay rights
May voted in favour of same-sex marriage in 2013 but voted against gay adoption in 2002 and against the repeal of Section 28 in 2000.
Environment
May has voted against measures to prevent climate change and in favour of culling badgers.
Human rights
May has argued for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, claiming it caused the delays to the extraditions and deportations of various extremists.
Surveillance
May is a keen supporter of the investigatory powers bill, known as the "snooper's charter", which seeks to extend the powers of state surveillance. Dr Gus Hosein, the executive director of Privacy International, believes the legislation will be pushed through once she is prime minister. "It is a sad reality that the referendum – where people declared they wanted more control over their lives – is going to result in the most draconian surveillance law in the democratic world," he told technology website Alphr.
Social mobility
At the launch of her leadership campaign earlier this week, May said she wanted to "make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few but for every single one of us", singling out the rise in VAT and how it had become harder for people to buy their own home. However, The Independent says May has consistently voted to raise VAT since 2010 and voted against building 100,000 affordable homes in 2013 and a ban on estate agents charging tenant fees the following year.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'Gen Z has been priced out of a future, so we invest in the present'
instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Angela Rayner: Labour's next leader?
Today's Big Question A leaked memo has sparked speculation that the deputy PM is positioning herself as the left-of-centre alternative to Keir Starmer
-
Are we entering the post-Brexit era?
Today's Big Question Keir Starmer's 'big bet' with his EU reset deal is that 'nobody really cares' about Brexit any more
-
Is Starmer's plan to send migrants overseas Rwanda 2.0?
Today's Big Question Failed asylum seekers could be removed to Balkan nations under new government plans
-
Is the UK's two-party system finally over?
Today's Big Question 'Unprecedented fragmentation puts voters on a collision course with the electoral system'
-
Has Starmer put Britain back on the world stage?
Talking Point UK takes leading role in Europe on Ukraine and Starmer praised as credible 'bridge' with the US under Trump
-
CPAC: Scenes from a MAGA zoo
Feature Standing ovations, chainsaws, and salutes
-
Left on read: Labour's WhatsApp dilemma
Talking Point Andrew Gwynne has been sacked as health minister over messages posted in a Labour WhatsApp group