Sir Vince Cable will step down as the MP for Twickenham at the next General Election, his office confirmed this morning (August 28).

His decision comes having held the position as MP since the 2017 snap election, having previously served as MP for the area between 1997 and 2015 until he lost his seat to the Tory candidate in the 2015 election.

In a statement, Sir Vince said it had been a "great honour to represent Twickenham in Parliament".

He is still due to serve until the next scheduled General Election in May 2022, but with uncertainty over Brexit and the rapidly approaching deadline to leave the EU on October 31, the local Liberal Democrat party were put on election alert ahead of an anticipated snap-election later this year.

In his statement, Sir Vince added: “The local party is beginning the process of selecting a successor candidate for the next GE which is scheduled for May 2022 but may be earlier if Boris Johnson decides to cut and run.

"I look forward to continuing as the local MP until then and there are some major battles ahead in the next few weeks to stop a damaging Brexit.

"It is a great honour to represent Twickenham in Parliament and I see part of my duties as helping to ensure that there is a smooth transition to a Lib Dem candidate of high quality.”

In a note scheduled to go out to local party members today, he added it would be a "mixture of pleasure and relief to be able to move on when the party is in such good shape".

He also thanked fellow party members and asked them to support his successor, as well as his neighbouring parliamentary candidate, Sarah Olney.