Plans for a statue of Margaret Thatcher to be erected opposite Parliament have been rejected.

A meeting of Westminster Council’s planning committee unanimously rejected the statue, which was to be placed in Parliament Square.

The one and a half-times life-size statue was to feature Baroness Thatcher dressed in her peers’ robes.

But councillors agreed that this did not reflect her importance in history as a Prime Minister.

The meeting also agreed that the statue should first receive approval from the Thatcher family before going ahead.