BRITISH PRIME MINISTER Theresa May has agreed to set out a timetable for her resignation as Tory leader next month.
May has agreed with her party’s backbench 1922 Committee that she will make clear her intentions after her Brexit Withdrawal Agreement again goes before the House of Commons in the first week of June.
The chairperson of the 1922 Committee Graham Brady has said May will discuss her resignation plans whether or not the Withdrawal Agreement passes parliament.
Today’s statement from Brady says May is seeking the UK’s exit from the EU in the coming months:
The prime minister is determined to secure our departure from the European Union and is devoting her efforts to securing the 2nd reading of the withdrawal agreement bill in the week commencing 3rd June 2019 and the passage of that bill and the consequent departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union by the summer.
“We have agreed that she and I will meet following the 2nd reading of the bill to agree a timetable for the election of a new leader of the Conservative and Unionist party,” Brady added.
Speaking to reporters after the statement was issued, Brady said May will discuss her departure regardless of the result of a Commons vote on the Withdrawal Agreement:
We have agreed to meet to decide the timetable for the election of a new leader of the Conservative party as soon as the second reading has occurred, and that will take place regardless of what the vote is on the second reading, whether it passes or whether it fails to pass.
May’s Conservative party have been holding negotiations with the opposition Labour party for some weeks as part of efforts to break the parliamentary impasse.
MPs have voted against May’s Withdrawal Agreement on three occasions.
May’s confirmation of her intention to step down had been widely expected and former foreign secretary Boris Johnson had earlier told the BBC’s Huw Edwards that he will contest a leadership contest.
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