Theresa May has vowed to contest a vote of confidence in her premiership, warning that her removal as prime minister and Conservative party leader will delay or possibly postpone the UK’s exit from the European Union.
In a direct appeal to fellow Conservative MPs, who will decide her future on Wednesday night, she said a new prime minister would have to scrap or extend article 50, the mechanism taking Britain out of the EU on 29 March, “delaying or even stopping Brexit”.
She also warned that her removal would hand the initiative to Labour’s leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Her comments followed Wednesday morning’s announcement that the required 48 letters calling for a leadership contest were delivered to Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers. A ballot will be held between 6pm and 8pm and a result was expected to be declared by 10pm.
Senior Conservatives believe May’s premiership could be dealt a heavy blow with at least five possible candidates lining up to replace her.
Speaking on the steps of No 10 Downing Street, May said her removal would put Brexit at risk.
“A change of leadership in the Conservative party now would put our country’s future at risk and create uncertainty when we can least afford it.”
“A new leader wouldn’t be in place by the 21 January legal deadline, so a leadership election risks handing control of the Brexit negotiations to opposition MPs in parliament.”
“The new leader wouldn’t have time to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement and get the legislation through parliament by 29 March, so one of their first acts would have to be extending or rescinding article 50, delaying or even stopping Brexit when people want us to get on with it,” she said.
“She said that she would contest the vote “with everything I’ve got”.
She also warned that any attempt to replace her would not increase the Tories’ majority. This week, she was forced to pull a crucial Brexit vote.
“A leadership election would not change the fundamentals of the negotiation, or the parliamentary arithmetic. Weeks spent tearing ourselves apart will only create more division just as we should be standing together to serve our country,” she said.
Her removal would play into the hands of Labour, she said. “The only people whose interests would be served would be Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell,” she said.
As a succession of May’s cabinet colleagues expressed their support for May in Wednesday night’s contest, others said she was unlikely to receive the same levels of support in the secret ballot.
She has the rest of the day to convince 158 MPs to support her in the vote and will enter her final plea at the 1922 Committee meeting at 5.30pm.
If she wins, MPs cannot call another vote for 12 months. She will be able to claim victory, demand the party fall in behind her and try to press on with her Brexit plan.
If she wins by a small margin, she will come under pressure from colleagues to stand down
If she stands down or loses the contest, the next part of the process – when Tory MPs cut down the contenders to a shortlist of two – could be completed relatively quickly, within 10 days.
Conservative party members would then be asked to choose between the final two candidates.
Ian Lavery, the chair of the Labour party, said May’s weakness had immobilised the government at a critical time for the country. “The prime minister’s half-baked Brexit deal does not have the backing of her cabinet, her party, parliament or the country,” he said.
“The Conservative party’s internal divisions are putting people’s jobs and living standards at risk.”
There are 108 days until Britain is due to leave the EU.
