Amber Rudd has resigned as Home Secretary in Britain over accusations she misled parliament there.

Ms Rudd, who had been under pressure over what she knew about deportation targets for illegal immigrants, phoned the Prime Minister Theresa May to tell her she was quitting.

She had faced intensifying calls to resign over claims she misled parliament over the targets - as well as her handling of the Windrush scandal.

This has seen Commonwealth citizens, who came to Britain after the Second World War, being wrongly threatened with deportation.

In a letter to Mrs May, Ms Rudd said she "inadvertently misled" a committee of top MPs, adding: "Since appearing before the select committee, I have reviewed the advice I was given on this issue and become aware of information provided to my office which makes mention of targets.

"I should have been aware of this, and I take full responsibility for the fact that I was not."

"Very sorry" to see her leave

Mrs May said Ms Rudd had answered questions from the committee and MPs in the House of Commons "in good faith" and she was "very sorry" to see her leave.

Ms Rudd's departure is seen as a major blow for Mrs May, who publicly declared her "full confidence" in her ally as recently as Friday.

Having told the Home Affairs Select Committee on Wednesday that her department did not have targets for deporting illegal immigrants, a 2015 report emerged contradicting Ms Rudd's evidence.

She was hauled before MPs and admitted they did exist. However, she claimed she was not aware of the targets and had not signed them off.

The pressure on her increased further on Friday with the emergence of a memo - copied to her - which again discussed deportation targets.

Ms Rudd insisted once again that she did not know about them and claimed to have not read the memo.

The resignation of Ms Rudd is the fourth British cabinet departure in six months, following the exits of Michael Fallon, Priti Patel and Damian Green.

Among the favourites to replace Ms Rudd are Sajid Javid, Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt, Karen Bradley and James Brokenshire.