Theresa May says she is seeking legally-binding changes to Brexit deal

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British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday she would be seeking legally-binding changes to a proposed Brexit deal with the European Union (EU) as she looks to resolve lawmakers' concerns about the so-called Irish backstop.

“What matters in all of this is legally-binding changes that ensure we address the concern that has been raised by this house,” she told parliament.

The prime minister is due to travel to Brussels later on Wednesday.

However, three Conservative lawmakers earlier quit the party over government's “disastrous handling of Brexit”.

“The final straw for us has been this government's disastrous handling of Brexit,” the three lawmakers - Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston - said in a letter to May.

British Conservative Party MPs Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston arrive at a news conference in London, the UK, February 20, 2019. /Reuters Photo

“We no longer feel we can remain in the party of a government whose policies and priorities are so firmly in the grip of the ERG and DUP,” they said, referring to Conservative pro-Brexit lawmakers and the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party which props up the government in parliament.

May's spokesman said May wants the support of her Conservative lawmakers in delivering Brexit.

Asked what May would say to other Conservative lawmakers considering resigning, May's spokesman said: “She would, as she always has, ask for the support of her colleagues in delivering that.”

"We will continue to do everything we can to get this deal over the line."

The decision by the pro-EU lawmakers was a blow to May's attempts to unite her party around plans to leave the European Union but she said pressing on with implementing the 2016 Brexit vote was right for the country.

(With inputs from Reuters)