Theresa May: Brexit won’t be easier if I’m ousted
Theresa May has told her critics that getting rid of her as PM would not make delivering Brexit any easier.
Mrs May, who has been facing calls for a no-confidence vote from some of her MPs since her draft plan for leaving the EU was published on Wednesday, said there was a “critical” week ahead.
Talks on the UK’s future relationship with the EU were continuing ahead of an expected EU summit next week, she said.
Jeremy Corbyn said Labour could get a better deal in time for Brexit.
There has been widespread criticism of the draft withdrawal agreement reached between the UK and the EU, which is set be signed off at a special summit next week.
There is also doubt over whether it can win the approval of the House of Commons, with opposition parties – including Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party – opposing it.
Some cabinet ministers have resigned and others are believed to be still trying to change its wording.
In other developments:
- The key Brexiteer group of Tory MPs has published its rebuttal of the draft plan – saying it will make the UK a “rule-taker”
- A poll of 505 Tory councillors found more were against the deal than for it – but a majority wanted MPs to back Theresa May
- Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland would be at a “competitive disadvantage” against Northern Ireland under the proposals
Mrs May told Sky News’s Ridge on Sunday it had been a “tough week” but that she would not be distracted.
“Politics is a tough business and I’ve been in it for a long time,” she said, adding that the next seven days “are going to be critical” for the future of the UK.
Asked whether Sir Graham Brady – chairman of the backbench 1922 committee – had received the 48 letters needed to trigger a confidence vote in her leadership, she replied: “As far as I know, no – it has not.”
And in a warning to those pushing for a change of leader, she said: “It is not going to make the negotiations any easier and it won’t change the parliamentary arithmetic.”
BBC