Mounting calls for May to resign as British Prime Minister

Pressure is mounting on Theresa May to resign as British Prime Minister as the House leader resigns and members of her own party reportedly plan a coup to force her out of office.

According to a report in The Sun, the British prime minister faces mounting fury from her own party after she gave the Commons a chance to vote on a second Brexit referendum.

Plotting ministers stayed away from Prime Minister’s Questions and held a meeting to discuss Mrs May’s future instead.

Andrea Leadsom, Leader of the House of Commons, resigned, saying she no longer has faith in Mrs May’s ability to deliver a workable Brexit deal

Leadsom said she was “proud” to have served in Theresa May’s government since 2016, and had stayed in the Cabinet to “shape and fight for Brexit” despite some “uncomfortable compromises along the way”.

I no longer believe that our approach will deliver on the referendum result, she said.

Leadsom said she did not believe that the UK will be “truly sovereign” through the deal proposed, and said a second referendum would be “dangerously divisive”.

She also said there had been “such a breakdown of government processes that recent Brexit-related legislative proposals have not been properly scrutinised or approved by Cabinet members”.

The tolerance to those in Cabinet who have advocated policies contrary to the government’s position has led to a complete breakdown of collective responsibility, Leadsom added.

Cabinet ministers are reportedly furious that they weren’t told how far she was planning to go on the crucial issue of a second referendum.

They are under pressure from other MPs to confront Mrs May and make it clear that they will quit if she doesn’t.

Leadsom, a leading Brexiteer in the Cabinet, said she resigned ahead of Thursday’s Business Statement to the Commons because she felt she could not announce a Bill with “new elements that I fundamentally oppose”.

I fully respect the integrity, resolution and determination that you have shown during your time as Prime Minister, she wrote.

No one has wanted you to succeed more than I have, but I do now urge you to make the right decisions in the interests of the country, this Government and our party.

Leadsom was one of a number of Brexit-supporting colleagues in the so-called Pizza Club who were absent for the start of Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.

Her resignation came as May faces growing pressure to quit amid a backlash over her last-ditch effort to get a Brexi tdeal through.