Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption New UKIP leader Diane James tells PM to 'stop the faff'

Diane James has been elected as the UK Independence Party's new leader and has told Prime Minster Theresa May to "get on with" getting the UK out of the EU.

Ms James had been regarded as the favourite to succeed Nigel Farage, who quit as leader following the UK's vote to leave the EU.

The MEP won with 8,451 votes. ahead of Lisa Duffy, who received 4,591.

She said UKIP was "the opposition party in waiting" and said the Tories "cannot be trusted with true Brexit".

"The threats to the referendum outcome are increasing by the day," she said, adding she would reject "Brexit-lite".

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To applause at the UKIP conference, she said: "Yes to a 100% European Union exit. Can I be any clearer? Yes to a sovereign independent UK. Yes to a UK free to make trade deals with whoever and whenever we want and yes to an immigration policy that allows entry regardless of origin to those with the skills and the expertise and the social values that this country wants."

On the referendum vote, Ms James warned that "we have only just won a heat" in a "28-member state Olympic competition to leave the European Union".

She praised her predecessor and said she was "not Nigel-lite" and would not pretend to be so but would be "stepping into his leadership shoes" to try to continue his political success.

Image copyright AFP Image caption This photo attracted much comment on social media

Later, in a news conference, she said Mr Farage would not be a "back seat driver" and she would be "making my own decisions" but she would seek his opinion on some matters: "Why wouldn't I? The legacy he bequeathed to this party, the experience, the knowledge he has got - I would be absolutely nuts to ignore that."

She was also asked about comments by outgoing deputy leader Paul Nuttall that he "fears for the very future of our party" if in-fighting that had plagued the party for more than a year could not be resolved.

Votes in UKIP contest Diane James 8,451 Lisa Duffy 4,591 Bill Etheridge 2,052 Phillip Broughton 1,544 Elizabeth Jones 1,203

Ms James said she was surprised he had said that as it was an "opposition narrative" that suggested UKIP was not united and she was happy with way UKIP MEPs had worked together.

She said UKIP had "moved mountains on the political landscape" and was the "change movement of the United Kingdom" and added: "I believe in UKIP's values of liberty, common sense, democracy and pragmatic approaches to the challenges this country faces."

She told the party conference in Bournemouth that she might use different language and be less frank than Mr Farage, but she would be honest and "uphold all the beliefs and values that this party stands for".

And, in a message to the prime minister, she said: "If you're watching this afternoon, you'll be watching the opposition party in waiting."

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Diane James addresses the UKIP party conference after being elected its new leader

She accused Mrs May of stealing some of UKIP's policies - such as grammar school expansion - adding: "Mrs May: from one grammar school girl to another, stop the faff, stop the fudge and the farce, get on with it - invoke Article 50 and give UKIP the best Christmas present we could ever have."

She added later: "My view is the Tory Party cannot be trusted with true Brexit."

Asked about her decision, within an hour of becoming leader, to remove Neil Hamilton from the list of speakers at the conference on Saturday, she said it was "my prerogative and I chose to change the programme", but denied it was a "purge".

Mr Hamilton has been replaced on the agenda by Nathan Gill, the man he ousted as leader of the UKIP group on the Welsh Assembly.

Mr Hamilton said it was a "rather bizarre way" to unite a party and criticised another decision to reduce the time allocated to UKIP's sole MP, Douglas Carswell.

Earlier, Ms James said Mr Gill, who now sits as an independent member of the Welsh Assembly, "has my 100% support".

UKIP MEP Steven Woolfe, who had been expected to stand but was ruled ineligible after submitting his papers late, told BBC News that Ms James had been "very clear that she wants to make UKIP a winning machine".

"I hope and I believe that she will take the party forward," he said.

Questions remain

But Labour MP Pat McFadden, a member of Open Britain - born out of the unsuccessful Remain campaign during the referendum - said: "UKIP may have a new leader but the same questions apply about the UK's future outside the EU.

"Will she press for the £350m a week extra pledged by the Leave campaign for the NHS? Will she campaign for their other promises to be met?"

Mr Farage stood down following the UK's vote to leave the European Union, saying his "political ambition has been achieved".

The face of Euroscepticism in the UK for nearly two decades, he helped turn UKIP from a fringe party into the third biggest in UK politics - in terms of votes at the 2015 general election. He also helped persuade more than 17 million people to vote to leave the EU.

Ms James, a former businesswoman and healthcare professional, saw off four other contenders: Bill Etheridge, Lisa Duffy, Liz Jones and Phillip Broughton.</s>UK's anti-EU party elects new leader as Brexit talisman Farage steps aside

BOURNEMOUTH, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Britain's anti-European Union UK Independence Party elected deputy chairwoman Diane James its new leader on Friday to replace Brexit talisman Nigel Farage who stepped down after helping to win the referendum on EU membership in June.

James, currently a member of the European parliament, was announced as the party's new head at its annual conference in the southern English coastal town of Bournemouth after a ballot of UKIP's 40,000 members.

A former business analyst with a long career the healthcare sector, James has pledged to ensure the government delivers an exit from the EU that meets the demands of UKIP voters: namely tighter immigration controls and more free trade. (Reporting by William James; editing by Michael Holden)</s>UK's anti-EU party elects new leader as Brexit talisman Farage steps aside

BOURNEMOUTH, England, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Britain's anti-European Union UK Independence Party elected deputy chairwoman Diane James its new leader on Friday to replace Brexit talisman Nigel Farage who stepped down after helping to win the referendum on EU membership in June.

James, currently a member of the European parliament, was announced as the party's new head at its annual conference in the southern English coastal town of Bournemouth after a ballot of UKIP's 40,000 members.

"We are the political change movement of the United Kingdom," James said, pledging to makes sure Britain acted on the referendum result and left the EU.

A former business analyst with a long career the healthcare sector, James has pledged to ensure the government delivers an exit from the EU that meets the demands of UKIP voters: namely tighter immigration controls and more free trade.

But, she will inherit a party riven with factional disputes and struggling to define a clear identity after achieving its number one goal of triggering Britain's exit from the EU.

A close ally of Farage defected to the ruling Conservative Party on the eve of the conference, saying that Prime Minister Theresa May had delivered on key elements of the UKIP manifesto since taking office in July, and that droves of UKIP supporters were doing the same.

Led by the charismatic Farage, who successfully tapped into a powerful anti-establishment mood among voters, the party won nearly 4 million votes at a general election in 2015 and played a key role in persuading Britons to vote to leave the EU. (Reporting by William James; editing by Michael Holden)</s>Britain’s anti-European Union UK Independence Party elected deputy chairwoman Diane James its new leader on Friday to replace Brexit talisman Nigel Farage who stepped down after helping to win the referendum on EU membership in June.

James, currently a member of the European parliament, was announced as the party’s new head at its annual conference in the southern English coastal town of Bournemouth after a ballot of UKIP’s 40,000 members.

A former business analyst with a long career the healthcare sector, James has pledged to ensure the government delivers an exit from the EU that meets the demands of UKIP voters: namely tighter immigration controls and more free trade.</s>Support for independence remains higher than it was in 2014, a new poll has found, as Scotland today marks the second anniversary of the historic referendum.

Scots remain split down the middle on the issue of leaving the UK, the Panelbase poll for the Sunday Times finds with 48% saying they would vote Yes, while 52% want to remain in the union. This up from the 45% who voted Yes in the referendum two years ago today, while 55% said No.

But it finds that the post-Brexit spike in support for independence has fallen away, with about two-thirds of Scots opposed to another referendum being staged.

A series of events are being held around the country today, to mark the second anniversary, with pro-independence rallies being held in Glasgow and other cities, while pro-Union have stepped up their calls for a proposed second referendum to be abandoned.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today said that independence is more important than "oil, national wealth and balance sheets".

"Two years on from the historic vote of 2014, the fundamental case for Scotland's independence remains as it was," she wrote in an article for the Sunday herald newspaper.

"The case for full self-government ultimately transcends the issues of Brexit, of oil, of national wealth and balance sheets and of passing political fads and trends."

A rally of independence supporters is to be held at Glasgow Green. A relaunch will also take place in the city of the Scottish Independence Convention. Other events are taking place in Oban and Inverness, and a rally is also planned for Edinburgh later in the week.

Ms Sturgeon has said that a second referendum is "highly likely" in the aftermath of the Brexit vote and this month launched a "listening exercise" aimed at winning over wavering Scots to independence.

Opposition leader Ruth Davidson has responded by setting up her own taskforce to map out the possibilities for Scotland after Brexit - but as part of the UK.
Members of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) elect Diane James as their new leader.