MPs in Barnet have congratulated Theresa May on winning the Conservative party leadership election, which will make her the next Prime Minister.

The Home Secretary and MP for Maidenhead claimed victory when her only remaining rival Andrea Leadsom, MP for South Northamptonshire, pulled out of the race at midday on Monday.

Theresa Villiers, the Secretary for Northern Ireland and Chipping Barnet MP, backed fellow Brexit-backer Leadsom when her campaign for the leadership was announced.

She said: “I would like to congratulate Theresa May on her victory in the Conservative leadership election. She will be a great prime minister and she has my full support.

“I fully understand and respect Andrea's decision to pull out of the contest, which means we can settle the uncertainty now and have a new prime minister in place as soon as possible.

“I wish Theresa well with her premiership and I feel a sense of pride that the Conservative party has given the country its second woman prime minister.”

MP for Hendon Matthew Offord said: “I am delighted that Theresa May will become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

“Having worked directly with Theresa for almost 20 years I have seen that she is a highly capable individual and has been an exceptional – and long serving – Home Secretary.

“Theresa has also visited the Hendon constituency on several occasions and is aware of the issues our communities face. I look forward to her premiership implementing the Conservative manifesto that we were elected upon last year.”

MP for Finchley and Golders Green, Mike Freer added: “As one of those MPs who declared support for Theresa May from the outset I am delighted that we will have a new PM who has the calm resolute temperament to steer the country through the unsettled next few months."

Ms May was already the frontrunner in the leadership elections, having taken a majority of 199 MPs’ votes in the second round of party voting, which had knocked out Lord Chancellor Michael Gove.

She supported the remain campaign and confirmed during her leadership bid “Brexit is Brexit” and she will not back-track on the referendum result.

Ms Leadsom said in her withdrawing statement she could not hope to lead the government when she only took 84 MPs’ votes in the second round, which is about 25 per cent of the vote.

She is expected to take office in the coming days.