The first woman bishop in the Church of England has welcomed her appointment as a "historic day".

The church announced the Reverend Libby Lane would becomes the Bishop of Stockport 20 years after the first women were ordained as Church of England priests.

It ends 40 years of wrangling within the church and comes four weeks after it finally enacted the changes to canon law necessary to allow the appointment.

In her first speech after the announcement the new Bishop of Stockport led a silence and prayer for the victims of the Pakistan school massacre.

She went on to say it was "unexpected" and a "remarkable joy" for her - and a "historic day" for the Church of England.

She paid tribute to all those who had fought the long and hard campaign for women bishops.

The 48-year-old, who was ordained a priest in 1994 and served as vicar of St Peter's Hale, Greater Manchester, for the last eight years, will be consecrated at a ceremony at York Minster on January 26.

The Prime Minister welcomed the appointment and said legislation to allow women bishops to sit in the House of Lords would be brought forward.

It is expected the new legislation will be announced on Thursday. Twenty-six Anglican bishops are allowed to sit in the upper chamber.

Mr Cameron said: "This is a historic appointment and an important step forward for the Church towards greater equality in its senior positions."

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, previously said that the church was starting "a completely new phase of our existence" and estimated half of bishops could be women within 10 to 15 years.

He said: "It depends how quickly people retire or die - I rather hope they retire and have a long and healthy retirement.

"It has got to be 10 years, allowing for the fact that men will be nominated to some sees as well, and it could be longer."

The issue of women becoming bishops was first voted on by the General Synod in 1975. It was concluded that there was "no fundamental objection" to the ordination of women to the priesthood.

However, the first motion failed in 1978. In 1985 a vote allowed women to become deacons but it was not until 1992 the General Synod voted to allow women priests - the first 1,500 were ordained in 1994.

In 2005 a motion was approved to remove the legal barriers to women bishops but the first attempt at legislation failed by six votes in 2012.

The vote finally succeeded in July.