JUST IN: Britain Gets New Prime Minister As Theresa May Resigns June 7

Silvia Dall’Angelo, senior economist at Hermes Investment Management, believes an early general election is possible.

“The risk is that under the next leader – most likely coming from the intransigent Eurosceptic wing of the Tory party – the institutional tensions between the executive and Parliament will intensify, potentially generating an even more fragmented and dysfunctional political landscape.

“The next stage will probably result in early general elections, but other outcomes are possible, including a second referendum and a no-deal Brexit (the latter being the default scenario under current Brexit legislation).

“At any rate, the Brexit situation is unlikely to be resolved any time soon, and uncertainty will persist, which will continue to weigh on the country’s economic prospects and financial assets,” she says.

“While May was almost uniquely ill-equipped to be the negotiator we needed, the truth is she was given an impossible job,” says Green MP and former leader of the party Caroline Lucas.

“You can’t achieve a hard Brexit and avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland.

“No new PM can achieve it either.”