May pleads for Brexit support as her leadership comes under intense pressure

Theresa May has pleaded with MPs to let her Brexit deal pass, as she faced intense pressure to quit after Tories rejected her latest proposals.

The Prime Minister warned that whoever succeeded her would face the same Brexit pressures as she called on MPs to back the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB).

In a Commons statement she appeared to acknowledge that her time in office was limited, having already said she will set out a timetable for her departure after the crunch vote on her Bill.

“In time another prime minister will be standing at this despatch box,” she told MPs.

“But while I am here, I have a duty to be clear with the House about the facts.

“If we are going to deliver Brexit in this Parliament we are going to have to pass a Withdrawal Agreement Bill.

“And we will not do so without holding votes on the issues that have divided us the most – that includes votes on customs arrangements and on a second referendum.”

Conservative Eurosceptics have reacted with fury to the Brexit plan’s offer of a vote on whether to hold another referendum.

Senior Tory MPs will again seek to change party rules to allow a confidence vote in her leadership if she refuses to leave Number 10.

Mrs May said the WAB would be published on Friday and backing it would help get the UK out of the EU by the end of July.

“We can bring an end to the months – years – of increasingly bitter argument and division that have both polarised and paralysed our politics,” she said.

“We can move on, move forwards, and get on with the jobs we were sent here to do, what we got into politics to do.

“That is what we can achieve if we support this new deal.

“Reject it, and all we have before us is division and deadlock.”

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