POLICE and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire Martin Surl has a blank space in his diary tomorrow after being stood up by Prime Minister-in-waiting Theresa May.

Mr Surl should have been meeting Theresa May for a ministerial briefing on Gloucestershire’s response to cybercrime and the Home Office strategy for tackling serious organised crime.

But, in the wake of the Conservative leadership result, Mrs May’s focus is now on her new role as Prime Minister – which means tomorrow she will be heading for an audience with the Queen instead.

Mr Surl said, “Given the constitutional significance of Mrs May’s meeting with Her Majesty I’m not surprised I got bounced off.

”On a more serious note I have met Mrs May on several occasions. She introduced PCCs and she has always been supportive of the role and determined to see it succeed.

“The unedifying political fallout from the EU referendum has had worrying side effects in some of our communities. I hope the arrival of a new Prime Minister signals the beginning of a less uncertain period and that things will begin to settle down again”.

Mrs May, the longest-serving Home Secretary for 50 years, will become Prime Minister of the UK tomorrow after meeting with Queen Elizabeth.

She became the only remaining candidate in the Tory leadership contest following the withdrawal of Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom on Monday.

Her succession comes after David Cameron announced his resignation as Prime Minister the day after the EU Referendum, which saw the public vote to leave the European Union.