Norman Lamb has spoken about his excitement at landing a top select committee job – and he is ready to help future-proof Norfolk.

The North Norfolk MP secured enough votes from his fellow politicians to be named as the chairman of the Science and Technology Select Committee.

He was up against fellow Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson.

Select committees are groups of MPs who focus on specific areas and are able to hold government, the civil service and business to account by calling people to appear before hearings and conducting inquiries.

Mr Lamb said: 'Artificial intelligence, automation and making the most of our undoubted skills and knowledge are all areas I am exciting to investigate.

'We are heading towards a jobs revolution in many industries where roles that people once did will now be done by machines. The impact of that change will be huge and the country needs to be ready.

'Soon we will have driverless cars and there is the potential for more automation in professions like accounting for example.'

And he thinks the new expertise he will gain can help this region: 'Here in Norfolk with the links between the hospital, the university and the research park we can – and will – be at the forefront of scientific breakthroughs and we then have to develop them.

'How we develop that will be key.'

But he added that winning the support of MPs was not an easy task.

'I am delighted to get the role but it was rather nerve-wracking as all 650 MPs could vote,' he said. 'It is a great opportunity for anyone you have annoyed or failed to impress to pay you back by not voting for you.

'Canvassing for support from fellow MPs is rather different than what I have been doing in the past few months during the election.

'So to be elected was a great honour. I am still very much in the process of exploring what we can do but I am very excited to get cracking when parliament returns.'