Theresa May to step down as MP

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Former UK prime minister Theresa May has become the latest Conservative MP to announce that she will step down in the coming general election.

May, who served as premier for three years between 2016 and 2019, said in a statement to the Maidenhead Advertiser newspaper that she had taken the decision to leave parliament to “champion causes close to my heart”, including doing work combating modern slavery.

She inherited the premiership from David Cameron in the wake of the 2016 Brexit referendum and her stint in office was plagued by the struggle to pass a deal with the EU.

The MP for Maidenhead, Berkshire, she was first elected in 1997.

This is a developing story.