Brexit Brief: May faces fresh calls for resignation

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is facing fresh calls from Conservative MPs to step down as leader, as she tries to secure support for a deal on Brexit from the opposition Labour Party. Read More...

Theresa May is facing fresh calls from Conservative MPs to step down U.K. Prime Minister, as she battles to secure a consensus on Brexit with the opposition Labour Party.

May is due to meet Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, on Tuesday. At this meeting Brady is expected to tell May she must clarify when she will depart as leader, no matter the outcome of Brexit.

Earlier this year May told her party she would step down once U.K. parliament approved her withdrawal agreement with the European Union. However, she didn’t make it clear whether she would do so if no deal is reached.

May has faced rising pressure to resign ever since she began conducting talks with the U.K.’s opposition Labour Party over a compromise Brexit. But having already tried to oust her last December, anti-EU hard-liners in her own party cannot hold another vote of confidence in her leadership until December.

Sir Bill Cash, a leading anti-EU Tory MP, told the Press Association “the time has come” for May to resign. “She needs to be given a date. The sooner the better. But it needs to be done in an orderly manner,” Cash said.

The treasurer of the 1922 Committee, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, told the BBC that May should announce a “road map” for her resignation after the European elections at the end of this month.

Also on Tuesday, May will urge Labour to sign up to a withdrawal agreement and break the political deadlock over Brexit, with reports suggesting the PM is willing to accept a number of Labour’s demands.

Ministers are expected to outline plans under which Labour and Conservatives could agree to keep the U.K. inside the EU’s customs area until the next general election. This must be held by 2022.

The customs union compromise move is likely to further enrage Tory MPs, according to The Times.

However, Labour sources suggested to the BBC that this proposal doesn’t go far enough for the opposition, which wants to keep the U.K. in the EU customs union permanently.

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