IT'S business as usual for Tatton MP Esther McVey as she returns to the back benches following her cabinet resignation.

Ms McVey stood down as work and pensions secretary on Thursday, November 15, saying she was unable to back Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan.

But she was back in Parliament on Monday, welcoming her successor Amber Rudd during the House of Commons' DWP question time.

Now Ms McVey has said her work continues as usual as MP for Tatton and vowed to continue fighting to secure the best outcome for the area.

She said: “I remain the MP for Tatton and I will continue to pursue all the matters for the local residents and the area and I will also carry on with the issues that made me an MP in the first place, like social mobility and building blocks of empowerment from education to opportunities to attainment.

“As I return to being a backbencher it is like having my first day back at work. I now need to find a new office, as I cannot keep my old ministerial office, I need to find new staff and start all over again.

"Change is difficult but I am prepared for that as you cannot live in fear. You have got to know your options, know what change is involved and go forward and do that, which is exactly what I am doing.

"You have got to believe in something and I believed that the withdrawal agreement was not good enough for the people of the UK and I believe in the people of the UK so I am going to fight for what is best for them.”

As a backbencher Ms McVey can now speak in debates, ask ministers questions and submit written parliamentary questions.

Ms McVey added: “Each day in Parliament there is a different departmental question time and it just happened that Monday was DWP questions, so I was there supporting the new Secretary of State in taking forward some of the changes I introduced, including the extra £4.5 billion for the department because Universal Credit needed that. I fought for that.”

In a resignation letter the Mrs May on Thursday morning, Ms McVey claimed the PM's deal 'does not honour the result of the referendum'.

She said the withdrawal agreement would mean 'handing over around £39 billion to the EU without anything in return' and 'trap us in a customs union'.

The former Wirral West MP, who replaced former Chancellor George Osborne as Tatton's MP last year, had served as work and pensions secretary since January following a short spell as a whip.

She was widely reported in the national press as being upset during last Wednesday's cabinet meeting after being shouted down following attempts to push through a vote on the Brexit deal.