The Bishop of Truro, the Right Reverend Tim Thornton, has welcomed the appointment of the Reverend Libby Lane as the Bishop of Stockport – the first female bishop in the Church of England.

Bishop Tim said: “I am delighted to learn the news and will pray for Libby as she moves into this important post.

“I rejoice that we will now have women and men as bishops in the Church of God and continue to be committed to working out the five principles that the House of Bishops has identified."

As Bishop of Stockport she will serve as a suffragan (assistant) bishop in the Diocese of Chester. She will be consecrated as the 8th Bishop of Stockport at a ceremony at York Minster on Monday 26 January 2015.

Libby Lane was ordained as a priest in 1994 and has served a number of parish and chaplaincy roles in the North of England in the Dioceses of Blackburn, York and Chester. For the past eight years she has served as Vicar of St Peter's Hale and St Elizabeth's Ashley.

She is one of eight clergy women from the Church of England elected as Participant Observers in the House of Bishops, as the representative from the dioceses of the North West.