UK House of Commons leader Leadsom resigns from government

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Europe

01:10

Prominent Brexit supporter Andrea Leadsom resigned from British Prime Minister Theresa May's cabinet on Wednesday, saying she could no longer support the government's approach after May's latest gambit to pass her Brexit deal backfired.

May resisted growing calls to resign on Wednesday, vowing to press on despite mounting opposition from lawmakers and even some of her own ministers to her latest Brexit gambit.

But Leadsom said she could not announce the new Withdrawal Agreement Bill in parliament on Thursday as she did not believe in it.

"I no longer believe that our approach will deliver on the referendum result," Leadsom, who served as Leader of the House of Commons, said in a resignation letter to May.

Britain's Conservative Party leader of the House of Commons Andrea Leadsom is seen outside Downing Street, as uncertainty over Brexit continues, in London, Britain, May 21, 2019. /Reuters Photo

May's new Brexit plan includes a vote on whether to hold a second Brexit referendum – once her legislation passes the first stage – as well as closer trading arrangements with the EU in future as incentives to lawmakers.

"I have always maintained that a second referendum would be dangerously divisive, and I do not support the government willingly facilitating such a concession," Leadsom said.

Britain's marathon crisis over Brexit has stunned allies and foes alike. With the deadlock in London, the world's fifth-largest economy faces an array of options including an exit with a deal to smooth the transition, a no-deal exit, an election, a second referendum, or even revocation of the Article 50 notice to leave the EU.

'Got to go'

May is due to meet the chair of the powerful 1922 committee of Conservative lawmakers on Friday, after campaigning for European Parliament elections on Thursday.

True to form for a prime minister who has weathered months of calls to quit, May's chief enforcer told a powerful group of Conservatives she would campaign for European Parliament elections on Thursday and then meet the group's chair on Friday for another discussion about the party's leadership rules.

It was not clear whether that conversation would end with any decision on when she should step down.

Anti-Brexit placards and EU flags are seen outside of the Houses of Parliament, ahead of the forthcoming EU elections, in London, Britain, May 22, 2019. /Reuters Photo

But the loud calls for her resignation further deepened Britain's Brexit crisis, sapping an already weak leader of her authority. Almost three years since Britain voted to leave the EU and just under two months after the scheduled departure, it is not clear when, how or even if Brexit will happen.

What was clear was that May planned to stay on for now. The chairman of the powerful Conservative 1922 Committee, which can make or break prime ministers, told lawmakers that she planned to campaign in the European poll on Thursday.

"It's just more kicking the can down the road," said one Conservative lawmaker after the meeting.

May has so far fended off bids to oust her by promising to set out a departure timetable once parliament has had a chance to vote again on Brexit, but a new discussion on a possible date could now take place on Friday.

Rage

In her last pitch on Tuesday to get her divorce deal approved by Britain's deeply divided parliament, she offered lawmakers a vote on whether to hold a second Brexit referendum – once her legislation passes the first stage – as well as closer trading arrangements with the EU in future as incentives.

But the backlash was swift and fierce. Both ruling Conservative and opposition Labour lawmakers rubbished May's Withdrawal Agreement Bill, or WAB, legislation which implements the terms of Britain's twice-delayed departure.

Even some of her ministers criticized the pitch, one source close to the cabinet said, explaining that they felt the concessions had gone much further than they had agreed at a meeting on Tuesday. Another source said May had canceled meetings with senior cabinet colleagues on Wednesday evening.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks at the House of Commons in London, Britain, May 22, 2019. /Reuters Photo

"There is one last chance to get it right and leave in an orderly fashion. But it is now time for Prime Minister Theresa May to go – and without delay," said Conservative lawmaker Tom Tugendhat, chairman of parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee.

"She must announce her resignation after Thursday's European (Parliament) elections," he wrote in the Financial Times.

May stood firm during more than two hours of questions in parliament, urging lawmakers to back the bill and then have a chance to make changes to it, so they can have more control over the final shape of Brexit. "In time another prime minister will be standing at this despatch box," May said, acknowledging that her leadership was drawing to a close.

"But while I am here, I have a duty to be clear with the House (of Commons) about the facts. If we are going to deliver Brexit in this parliament we are going to have to pass a Withdrawal Agreement Bill," she told MPs.

Asked by eurosceptic lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg whether she really believed in the new deal she had proposed or whether she was simply going through the motions, May said: "I don't think I would have been standing here at the despatch box and be in receipt of some of the comments I have been in receipt of from colleagues on my own side and across the house if I didn't believe in what I was doing."

(Cover: Britain's Conservative Party's leader of the House of Commons Andrea Leadsom is seen in a car outside Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, May 22, 2019. /Reuters Photo)

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters