New chief secretary to the treasury Elizabeth Truss has dismissed claims she suffered a demotion in the prime minister's post-election reshuffle.

The South West Norfolk MP was replaced as justice secretary by David Gauke.

But when asked if she saw her new job as a demotion Mrs Truss said: 'Not at all. I am delighted to be working in the treasury. I enjoyed my time at justice and I am thankful to everyone there.

'I have been in cabinet roles since 2014 and I am so honoured to have been able to do that. Obviously I am thrilled to be able to continue.

'My new role will be to ensure value for money for the government while still delivering first class services. I have spent all morning being briefed on the job ahead and I am looking forward to getting started.'

Mrs Truss' new role is second only to that of the Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond and she will continue to attend cabinet meetings.

She added: 'What the country needs now is stability and that is quite rightly what we are looking to achieve.'

Mrs Truss also paid tribute to her campaign team who helped her increase an already healthy majority by almost 5,000 votes.

'The team worked incredibly hard,' she said. 'And I am very grateful. I would also like to thank everyone who voted for me and I am looking forward to serving the whole constituency again.'

Before the results were announced in the early hours of Friday Mrs Truss was forced to leave the count due to a sickness bug from which she has now recovered.

Mrs Truss had a difficult period as Justice Secretary notably angering the legal profession when she did not defend judges from attacks in some national media after they presided over a decision to enforce a parliamentary vote on the triggering of Article 50. One paper referred to the judges as 'enemies of the people' but at the time Mrs Truss said she believed that the independent judiciary was robust enough to withstand criticism from the media.