Bolton will benefit from Brexit, says Prime Minister

She said that the economy will be stronger after Brexit when Britain will have the freedom to make new trade deals.

Mrs May told The Bolton News that once Brexit is "done and delivered" the government can focus on its industrial strategy.

She said: "If you look at what’s happening in the economy, we have record levels of employment in our economy. That’s really important for people, over three million more jobs created in this country, that’s more people available to earn an income to support themselves and their families. That’s very important.

"So if you think, the strength of the economy we have at the moment while we’re going through this Brexit process, how much stronger we can be once we’ve got Brexit done and delivered, and we have the freedom to make trade deals with the rest of the world.

"And this links with our industrial strategy and what we’re doing to ensure that across the whole country we recognise the advantages of certain areas and help them to develop their local economies.”

The comments were made during a visit to Bolton Lads and Girls Club which was part of a whistle-stop tour of the North West ahead of next week’s council elections.

However, no one from the local Conservative group, which has a chance of becoming the largest party in Bolton this year, met her at the centre in Spa Road yesterday.

When asked whether her government’s handling of Brexit will negatively impact local Tory chances at the polls, she said that voters separate local issues from national politics.

She said: “I think when people go out and vote for their local councils, what they’re doing is voting for who is going to be responsible for key decisions being taken in their local communities. And I think if you look across the country at the councils that cost people less and deliver more, it’s Conservative councils.

“I think people will go out and say, ‘who is going to ensure that we get those great local services, who’s going to take the right decisions for my locality?’ And I think every time that’s Conservatives.”

Mrs May said that she has been out knocking on doors and talking to people in the run up to council election campaigns.

When she talks to people on the doorstep, the issues they raise are about the local council and local issues, she said.

But she also said that across the country, people want to see the government deliver on Brexit.

She said: “From my point of view as a government it’s very important that we deliver on Brexit. I’d hoped we’d be able to do that already, we haven’t, but we’re still working at it. And I’m very clear that we need to deliver for people.

“It was the biggest exercise in democracy in our history, the referendum on leaving the European Union. People chose to leave the European Union, it’s up to us to deliver that for them. I think people want us to get on with it and that’s what I want to do.”

The Prime Minister faced a challenge to her leadership in December but survived with Tory MPs voting by 200 to 117 votes to keep her in power.

Senior Conservatives have ruled out changing rules to allow another challenge to Theresa May’s leadership. But Sir Graham Brady, who chairs the party’s executive committee, has asked for a “clear roadmap” about her future.

The Bolton News asked the Prime Minister whether she will set out a timetable and schedule for her departure as the Altrincham and Sale MP has requested.

She said: “What I’m doing is focusing on what I’ve just been talking about, which is the issue which I think most members of the public are interested in, which is government getting on and delivering Brexit.”