Breaking: Prime Minister Theresa May vows to resign
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Prime Minister Theresa May has told Conservative MPs she will stand down if they chose to back her EU withdrawal deal.
Reports have been emerging that she told a meeting of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbench MPs: “I am prepared to leave this job earlier than I intended in order to do what is right for our country and our party.”
It appears that she did not determine a specific departure date but that if they did not back the deal as they were asked to do then she might choose to continue.
There have been repeated calls from opposition leaders for Mrs May to resign over her handling of Brexit, with many critical of her approach which appears to have alienated MPs across parliament as well as EU officials.
Last night, the parliament voted to wrest control of the Brexit process from the government through an amendment put forward by Conservative MP Sir Oliver Letwin that will allow MPs to take control of Commons business.
The result is there will be a series of so-called “indicative” votes that it is hoped can build some consensus on the way forward for Brexit.
However, the Prime Minister’s offer to resign plus the potential of parliament to effectively halt Brexit altogether has seen a number of MPs hostile to the May deal offer to back it.
The indicative votes are due to start in the Commons shortly.
Posting on social media shortly after news broke of Mrs May’s offer, Ross MP and SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford wrote: “The Prime Minister has failed parliament and has failed Scotland. As she runs from the scene of the crime, parliament now has a chance to avoid a complete disaster.”
Earlier, he had called on her to: “Change course – or resign.”
Chancellor Philip Hammond also took to social media, he applauded the Prime Minister’s move, writing: “Theresa May has demonstrated once again that she puts getting an orderly Brexit done ahead of everything else.”
