Friday, May 17, 2019

Theresa May Will Set Timetable for Her Resignation in Early June

Whether or not her Brexit deal passes, British Prime Minister Theresa May has confirmed that she will announce a date for her resignation. The decision comes after months of repeated failure to deliver the U.K.’s divorce from the European Union, which was demanded by British citizens in 2016.

In a joint statement released by the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers and May, the two sides said they would meet during the week of June 3 in order to “agree on a timetable for the election of a new leader.” 

The 1922 Committee, made up of rank-and-file Tory MPs, has been pressuring May to step down for months now. In recent weeks, after the third defeat of May’s Brexit plan and the failure of May’s government to leave the EU on March 29 as originally scheduled, that pressure has increased, even to the point of the committee considering amending the rule that a no-confidence vote against a member can only be taken a calendar year after any previous such vote. May survived a Tory no-confidence vote in December

May met with the 1922 Committee on Wednesday. “We had a very frank exchange with the prime minister,” said Sir Graham Brady, the leader of the powerful committee. The prime minister was informed by the committee that unless she resigned, she would face another no-confidence vote, which she would almost surely lose this time around.

Read the entire article