Quotes By Theresa May

On gay adoption I have changed my mind.

Now there is a growing feeling, it's something that David Cameron led on actually, he said this some time ago, that MPs should not be voting on their own pay.

No, I can tell you one of the first things that happens to a home secretary when they arrive in the job is that they are given a briefing about the security matters that they will be dealing with and I deal with security matters on a daily basis.

I want a counter-terrorism regime that is proportionate, focused and transparent.

People feel that they're being required to meet all sorts of regulations and rules and requirements in their areas of work and MPs are not imposing those sort of restrictions on themselves.

It is quite widely known that I like shoes. This is not something that defines me as either a woman or a politician, but it has come to define me in the eyes of the newspapers. I wore a pair of leopard-print kitten heels to a Conservative Party Conference a few years ago and the papers have continued to focus on my feet ever since.

Sham marriages have been widespread; people have been allowed to settle in Britain without being able to speak English; and there have not been rules in place to stop migrants becoming a burden on the taxpayer. We are changing all of that.

People have to make journeys, what we want is people to have alternatives in public transport so that they can make a choice about the sort of way in which they're going to travel.

I will be ruthless in cutting out waste, streamlining structures and improving efficiency.

Tying money up for 40 years doesn't sound appealing when you are young.

If the police need more help to do their work, I will not hesitate in granting it to them.

I am a vicar's daughter and still a practising member of the Church of England.

National security is the first duty of government but we are also committed to reversing the substantial erosion of civil liberties.

Dealing with a simple burglary can require 1,000 process steps and 70 forms to be completed as a case goes through the Criminal Justice System. That can't be right.

Today I can announce a raft of reforms that we estimate could save over 2.5 million police hours every year. That's the equivalent of more than 1,200 police officer posts. These reforms are a watershed moment in policing. They show that we really mean business in busting bureaucracy.

Anti-social behaviour still blights lives, wrecks communities and provides a pathway to criminality.

Targets don't fight crime.

The concept of doing something with child benefit, of changing the rules around child benefit, is something that has been being discussed for some time.

I am willing to consider powers which would ban known hooligans from rallies and marches and I will look into the powers the police already have to force the removal of face coverings and balaclavas.

There's much more we can be doing in Parliament, we could be giving more power back to people at local government level, through local referendums.

Just as the police review their operational tactics, so we in the Home Office will review the powers available to the police.

I think it's important to do a good job and not to feel that you've got to make grand gestures, but just to get on and deliver.

We've got a first class leader at the moment. David Cameron is dealing with the issues that he was left by the last government very well indeed.

What is absolutely clear is that we have, with the U.S., an extradition treaty which is important, I believe it is an important treaty, for both sides, the United States and the United Kingdom. It is a treaty that I believe is balanced and we work on that basis.

What we're also doing is helping police forces in terms of issues like procurement and IT, so that savings can be made in those areas which I think is the sort of thing that everybody is going to want us to be doing.

I was looking at a photograph of the 1997 election campaign yesterday, and I thought: 'My God. Did I really have that hairstyle? And that Tory blue suit?'

Local people do want to see more police on the streets.

One area in which we can be certain mass immigration has an effect is housing. More than one third of all new housing demand in Britain is caused by immigration. And there is evidence that without the demand caused by mass immigration, house prices could be 10% lower over a 20-year period.

I think there is a break down of trust generally, between people and politicians. I think that's come about for a whole variety of reasons.

You only have to look at London, where almost half of all primary school children speak English as a second language, to see the challenges we now face as a country. This isn't fair to anyone: how can people build relationships with their neighbours if they can't even speak the same language?