Defying calls to resign, British Prime Minister Theresa May vows to save her Brexit deal
- May says she believes in her Brexit deal ‘with every fibre of my being’, after two top ministers resigned in protest at the draft agreement with the EU
- Pro-Brexit lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg has called for a vote of no-confidence in May
British Prime Minister Theresa May defied mounting calls to quit or change course on Thursday over the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, warning that abandoning her Brexit plan would plunge the country into “deep and grave uncertainty.”
Britain’s long-simmering divisions over its future in the EU erupted into turmoil just a day after the government agreed to a divorce deal with the bloc. Two senior ministers and a string of junior appointees resigned and some lawmakers from May’s own party called for her to be replaced. The crisis threatened to destroy the Brexit agreement, unseat the prime minister and send the UK hurtling toward the EU exit without a plan.
In an evening news conference aimed at regaining some control, May said she believed “with every fibre of my being that the course I have set out is the right one for our country and all our people.”
“Am I going to see this through? Yes,” she said.
The hard-won agreement with the EU has infuriated pro-Brexit members of May’s divided Conservative Party. They say the agreement, which calls for close trade ties between the UK and the bloc, would leave Britain a vassal state, bound to EU rules it has no say in making.