The Prime Minister has promised the Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson that any deal between their party and the Democratic Unionist Party will not damage gay rights in the UK.

Theresa May gave the assurance to Ruth Davidson in a phone call on Friday.

The Conservatives have formed a minority government at Westminster which will function with the promised support of the DUP's ten MPs.

The Northern Irish party have repeatedly opposed and blocked moves to legalise same-sex marriage in the country's devolved assembly.

Speaking to the BBC, Davidson said: "I was fairly straightforward with her [Theresa May] and I told her that there were a number of things that count to me more than the party.

"One of them is country, one of the others is LGBTI rights.

"I asked for a categoric assurance that if any deal or scoping deal was done with the DUP there would be absolutely no rescission of LGBTI rights in the rest of the UK, in Great Britain, and that we would use any influence that we had to advance LGBTI rights in Northern Ireland

"It's an issue very close to my heart and one that I wanted categoric assurances from the prime minister on, and I received [them]."

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where same-sex couples cannot be married.

The DUP has a long history of opposing the advancement of gay rights in the country.

Then party leader Ian Paisley led the Save Ulster from Sodomy campaign in the 1970s and 1980s in a bid to keep homosexuality as a crime.

In 2008, DUP MP Iris Robinson, the wife of then party leader and First Minister Peter Robinson, described homosexuality as an "abomination" that made her feel "sick" and "nauseous".

DUP leader Arlene Foster has said those who describe her party as anti-gay are incorrect.

In a recent interview, the politician said: "They are wrong and they need to understand why we take those positions from a faith point of view and why we want to protect the definition of marriage.

"I could not care less what people get up to in terms of their sexuality, that's not a matter for me, when it becomes a matter for me is when people try to redefine marriage."