Outspoken MP Teresa Gorman has urged people to move with the times after calling for cannabis cafes to be trialled in the UK - but has admitted that Billericay and Basildon may not be the right place for them.

Mrs Gorman, Conservative MP for Billericay, has backed a motion which calls for a relaxing of legislation to allow for the medicinal use of cannabis.

She feels the reactions to her comments are unjust. She said: "You would think I was saying to people 'eat your granny'."

Mrs Gorman said people did smoke cannabis and, as long as there was proper education on the dangers of using any drug, she did not believe people should be criminalised for using it.

"Everybody knows that doing anything to excess is bad for you. As long as people are not causing others harm they must be allowed to get on with their lives.

"It is not the role of Government to run people's lives," she added.

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