Politics

Theresa May survives vote of no confidence, remains prime minister

Dec 13, 2018

Theresa May survived the vote of no confidence and will remain prime minister. Source: Getty

Theresa May will remain the United Kingdom’s prime minister after surviving a tense vote of no confidence on Wednesday (UK time).

The 62-year-old took home a win in the secret ballot, with a vote of 200 to 117, the ABC reports.

The victory means May will remain in the top position for at least the next 12 months with no other leadership challenges allowed during that time. She will also guide her party through to Brexit in March next year.

The vote was called earlier this week after 48 members of parliament filed letters of no confidence. It was a worrying time for the PM who was only recently halted by the government on the signing of the Brexit agreement with Brussels.

While it was meant to be secret vote, a number of MPs shared their ballot papers from inside the Palace of Westminster.

“Proud to have voted in support of the PM, thank you to the many people who have contacted my office today to urge me to do just that,” Margot James wrote on Twitter.

Proud to have voted in support of the PM, thank you to the many people who have contacted my office today to urge me to do just that pic.twitter.com/pF5ChA4xHh

— Margot James (@margot_james_) December 12, 2018

While MP Sarah Wollaston wrote: “I’m not voting for more chaos in the midst of a constitutional crisis. I will be voting for the PM to stay in place. We don’t need a new leader but we do need the leader we have to acknowledge the Parliamentary gridlock & remove her red lines to a #Peoplesvote”.

https://twitter.com/sarahwollaston/status/1072769627380420608

According to the ABC, even before the ballots were drawn, May announced she will stand down from her position as prime minister before the election in 2022.

However, this is not met with support from leading Conservative Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg who said May should go see the Queen and resign immediately.

“The prime minister must realise that under all constitutional norms she ought to go see the Queen urgently and resign,” he said in an interview after the vote was revealed.

I accept the confidence vote result but Theresa May should still meet the Queen and resign, says leading Conservative Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg

Latest updates: https://t.co/eU9qe2rnbG pic.twitter.com/RyhydqNFmm

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) December 12, 2018

“Constitutionally, if a prime minister can not get her business through the house of comms and on Monday the prime minister stood up and said she would lose so heavily that she wasn’t even going to present the vote.

“And then discovers an overwhelming majority of her back benchers have had non-paid backers voted against her, she clearly doesn’t have confidence in the House of Commons, she should make way for someone who does.”