Theresa May faces growing calls to quit amid renewed Brexit revolt

As Theresa May breathes a sigh of relief, we’re ending our live coverage for Wednesday. She faces a showdown over her future on Friday, and we’ll bring you all the developments.

A Conservative MP said that the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers had not agreed to change the party’s leadership rules, but that Chairman of the committee Sir Graham Brady would meet with the Prime Minister on Friday to discuss her future.

That means Theresa May survives for now. She remains immune to another leadership challenge until December, because current party rules don’t allow for more than one effort to oust a leader in the space of 12 months.

But Friday’s meeting will likely be a showdown over May’s future, and it’s looking increasingly likely that the rest of her tenure can be measured in days, not weeks.

A number of weary Conservative lawmakers are calling for Theresa May to step down, as pressure on the embattled Prime Minister grows.

Writing in the Financial Times today, Tom Tugendhat said: “There is one last chance to get (Brexit) right and leave in an orderly fashion. But it is now time for Prime Minister Theresa May to go — and without delay.”

“She must announce her resignation after Thursday’s European elections. And the Conservative party must fast track the leadership process to replace her,” he added.

That came hours after Tim Loughton said he wrote to Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, urging a new leadership election.

And several cabinet members who have been tipped as potential leadership candidates were noticeably absent from Parliament earlier as May addressed lawmakers.

Of course, May has appeared to be on the brink of quitting countless times in her short but volatile tenure.

Backbenchers in Theresa May’s Conservative Party will decide today on whether to allow another vote of no confidence in her leadership, in a move that could set up the final days of the embattled prime minister’s tenure.

MP Nigel Evans told CNN that the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs will discuss changing the party’s rules to allow for a second challenge against May in the space of a few months.

Currently rules state that a Conservative leader cannot be challenged from within their party for one year after surviving a vote, and May won an earlier motion of no confidence in December.

“18 Conservative MPs will meet today … and we will decide whether we want to change the rules or not,” Evans said.

“But we’ll see because we had a vote a few weeks ago and we decided rather narrowly not to change the rules but a couple of things have happened since then. The talks between the Conservative Party and the Labour Party have broken down completely. And of course the?Prime Minster has decided to bring forward the Withdrawal Agreement bill early in June….the forecast is not looking particularly good for that,” he added.

A spokesperson for Nigel Evans, who is the Joint Executive Secretary of the 1922 Committee, said he is in favor of changing the rules.?

If the rules are changed, it would likely prompt an almost immediate challenge against May, in an effort to force her out.

The prime minister has wrapped up her session and has left Parliament. But her day may not be over – an influential group of Conservative backbenchers are set to meet today, with her future likely to be the number one topic of discussion.

Arch Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg asked Theresa May if her heart is really in the fourth iteration of her Brexit bill. ?

“In proposing this folderol, is she going through the motions or does she really believe in it?” he says.

But May responded defiantly. “I don’t think I would be standing here at the dispatch box and being receipt of some of the comments that I’ve been receipt of – from colleagues on my own side and across the House – if I didn’t believe in what I was doing,” she said.

May adds that she is doing it because she believes it’s in the national interest to pass a Brexit deal.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering (which you definitely are) – folderol is a noun describing something nonsensical or trivial.

May is facing several questions about the consequences of a no-deal Brexit. Chuka Ummuna, a Change UK MP, asks if she will seek another Brexit delay if she is still around by October but has failed to pass her bill.

But May simply replies that MPs should avoid that scenario by voting for her bill.

Other lawmakers press May on what impact no deal would have. “I think there would be an immediate impact economically of leaving with no deal,” she says. Economists have warned of the impact of a no deal Brexit.

Some MPs also question how to ensure a new prime minister doesn’t rip up May’s Brexit strategy. Several backbenchers slated to run for leadership back a no deal Brexit, though Parliament looks unlikely to support the plan.

Ian Blackford, the leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party in Westminster, offers May some “friendly advice” – “this deal is dead,” he says. “Stop the charade, and let’s get on with putting the decision back to the people once and for all.”

“Look around. There is not support for the prime minister’s deal,” he adds, predicting she might face an even bigger defeat than last time around.

And Blackford takes a dig at the absence of some of May’s key cabinet members from Parliament, suggesting they’re plotting a coup.

May hits back that voting for the SNP would be voting to “betray democracy.”

“Nobody here will be fooled by what the prime minister is offering” on a second Brexit poll, Corbyn says.

He asks if May will allow a free vote of her own MPs on the issue, or whether she will whip against a second referendum in Parliament – as she’s done before.

“If the government truly believes this is the best deal for the economy, and for jobs, they should not fear putting it to the people,” says Corbyn.

He finishes his response by calling for a general election.

May notes that Conservative MPs had a free vote on the question of a second referendum during the indicative votes process, where the option was narrowly defeated.

She asks Corbyn whether he’s for Brexit or against it – and says voting for her bill is the only way to prove he backs it.

Jeremy Corbyn, the opposition Labour leader, is responding to May’s statement.

He’s not impressed with her plan. “It offers no change on a customs union, no change on single market alignment,” he says. “Her ten-point plan is riddled with contradiction and wishful thinking.”

“The Prime Minister couldn’t even get the compromise deal she wanted through her own cabinet,” he adds, alluding to reports yesterday that May faced opposition over several approaches from her colleagues. “The shrunken offer that emerged satisfied no-one.”

He also comments on May’s looming exit as prime minister and her fragile government.

“This government is too weak, too divided to get this country out of the mess they created,” he says. “She had lost the authority to deliver.”

“No matter what the prime minister offers, it’s clear no compromise would survive the upcoming Tory leadership contest, Corbyn adds.

May’s plan would deliver Brexit “by any definition,” she says – though plenty of her hardline backbenchers would say it’s too soft a break.

If MPs pass her bill, “we can move on move forwards and get on with the jobs we were sent here to do,” she adds. “Reject it, and all we have before us is division and deadlock.”

“We risk leaving with no deal, something this House is clearly against. We risk stopping Brexit altogether, something the British people will simply not tolerate,” May says.

With that, she ends her statement.

With PMQs over, Theresa May is giving a statement on her new Brexit deal.

“We need to see Brexit through,” she says. “For all our division and disagreement, we believe in democracy,” she adds of lawmakers in the House of Commons.

Recent votes show there is no majority for leaving without a deal or for scrapping Brexit, she adds, so the only way forward is leaving with a deal. Her previous three offerings, of course, have also failed in Parliament.

May recaps the details of her new plan, announced in a speech in London yesterday. She takes a swipe at Labour, saying their stance on a closer customs union with the EU means it doesn’t support Britain having an independent trade policy.

She turns to her offering of a vote on a second referendum – if MPs first approve her plan. “What would it say about our democracy if the biggest vote in our history were re-run,” she asks - adding that she recognizes the “strength of feeling” across the House from those who want to see another poll. Trying to get pro-Remain MPs to back her bill before they’re able to vote on a second referendum, of course, won’t be an easy sell.

Jeremy Corbyn will respond to May’s statement, and she’s likely to take a series of tough questions from lawmakers on both sides after that.

Nigel Farage at the Brexit Party rally in London on Tuesday.

Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party held a rally in London last night. They claim that over 3,000 people were in attendance. Having spent last night stood at the back of the hall, that number seems entirely plausible.

Polls suggest that the Brexit Party is set to win the European elections on Thursday – and comfortably. This would be an amazing outcome for a political party that did not exist five weeks ago. Anger at Brexit having been delayed has created a real movement. These rallies are not like normal political events. As James Glancy, a Brexit Party candidate, told me last week, “they’re like rock concerts, these rallies”.

That might be a bit of an overstatement, not many rock concerts provide the entire audience with chairs while a quartet of speakers with an average age of 64 talk about politics. But they are not lacking for energy. See Farage’s entrance below and judge for yourself.

May takes a question from Philip Lee, one of her backbenchers who has split from the prime minister over Brexit and backs a second referendum. He notes that Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party looks set to win the European elections on a no deal platform, but there are another ten million Brexit voters who won’t back no deal this week.

But the PM reiterates her opposition to a second poll and insists that lawmakers need to decide whether they want Brexit or not. “The choice that is before this House is whether or not it wants to deliver on the result of the first referendum,” she says.

“We can do that,” she adds – but the only way to guarantee Brexit is by voting for her bill.

Eagle-eyed fans of British parliamentary sessions will have noticed that a few key members of May’s Cabinet aren’t sitting on the Conservative front bench during PMQs.

Michael Gove, Andrea Leadsom and Liz Truss are all absent, according to several political journalists following events from the parliamentary lobby.

What do those three have in common? They’ve all been linked with a bid to replace May as prime minister. Gove and Leadsom are longtime Brexiteers, and Truss now backs leaving the EU.

Ian Blackford, the Westminster leader of the Scottish National Party, has said the customs compromise in Theresa May’s new Brexit plan has already been rejected by the EU.

“Isn’t this new deal just a fantasy?” he asks the Prime Minister.

May admits that “there is a difference of opinion in this house on the future customs arrangement with the European Union.” Her new plan has proposed a temporary customs relationship with the bloc.

That’s why it’s important, she says, that the House “actually comes to a decision” on the issue. She says her bill will give it the chance to do that – as well as have a say on a second referendum. But May reiterated her own opposition to that route.?

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has avoided Brexit in PMQs, opting to grill the Prime Minister on the collapse of British Steel and on school funding.

May will undoubtedly face criticism over her Brexit policy as other party leaders and backbenchers get their opportunity to put a question to her. But she and Corbyn might enjoy being able to talk about anything else – both their parties are struggling in polls ahead of this week’s European elections, as voters look set to send a message over the ongoing Brexit impasse.

May stood up to a relatively quiet House of Commons, with the customary cheering from her backbenchers sounding slightly muted. Perhaps that’s no surprise, given that plenty of her colleagues are prepping their own bids at her job.

Theresa May leaves Downing Street for Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.

Theresa May is taking questions from lawmakers. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will kick things off during Prime Minister’s Questions, and May will stick around for an extra grilling over her new Brexit deal.

Follow it all here.

Enjoyed your holiday from Brexit?

Everyone’s favorite political soap opera has returned this week, after British Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled the fourth iteration of her massively unpopular Brexit deal.

She’ll put it to a vote in Parliament at the start of June – after lawmakers crushed the first three versions of the bill, forcing May to twice delay the date of Brexit. It’s hard to see any other scenario this time around, with MPs on both sides still opposed to the plan.

And this will certainly be her last try. May has confirmed that she’ll set out a timetable for her departure after the vote, regardless of whether she wins it or not.

That adds another layer of intrigue to her attempts to win over lawmakers, as rivals in her own party prepare their leadership campaigns.

Today, May is taking on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in Prime Minister’s Questions at noon UK time (7 p.m. ET). After that, she’ll take questions from lawmakers on the substance of her bill – and she’s certain to face calls to clarify her own exit strategy.

It could be another dramatic day in Westminster.

Theresa May unveils her next Brexit plan on Tuesday.

May used a speech in London to outline what she claimed was a “new Brexit deal,” which in reality looked a lot like her old Brexit deal with some added sweeteners designed to attract the support of dubious Members of Parliament.

“If MPs vote against … this bill, they are voting to stop Brexit,” May said.

In an attempt to repackage the plan, which has already been rejected three times by the House of Commons, May rolled it up into a wider set of legislation dealing with Britain’s departure from the European Union. As well as the offer of a second referendum, it also contains pledges on workers’ rights, environmental provisions, as well as a temporary customs relationship with the European Union.

Failure to agree the deal would lead to a “nightmare future of permanently polarized politics,” she said.

But the central provisions of the deal remain the same, and May had barely finished speaking before her plan ran into significant opposition. “The Prime Minister’s proposals are worse than before and would leave us bound deeply into the EU,” said Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative MP and leader of a pro-Brexit bloc in the Prime Minister’s party.

Read more details and analysis of the plan here.