The British prime minister has faced shrill opposition to a draft deal from her own Cabinet and Conservative Party since she presented it on Wednesday. Some of her MPs want to oust her from office.
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UK deeply divided over Brexit
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Theresa May defended her draft Brexit deal on Thursday following resignations by senior ministers and an attempt by some members of her Conservative Party to start a process to replace her as party leader and therefore as prime minister.
"Am I going to see this through? Yes," May said. "This is a Brexit that delivers on the priority of the British people."
The draft deal would protect British jobs, trade, security and a fragile peace in Northern Ireland, she said.
Conservatives dis May
One of the most ardent Brexit supporters in her Conservative Party, Jacob Rees-Mogg, had earlier requested a vote of no confidence in the British prime minister.
May: 'Am I going to see this through? Yes!'
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Rees-Mogg, who leads the Brexit-backing European Research Group (ERG), wrote that May's deal "fails to meet the promises given to the nation by the Prime Minister."
A total of 48 Conservative MPs would have to sign no-confidence letters to trigger a no-confidence vote. Rees-Mogg said the list of MPs signing letters was growing after he announced his submission.
Junior minister Shailesh Vara in the Northern Ireland office
Junior minister Suella Braverman in the Brexit office
Brexit: UK ministers falling like dominoes
A day after Prime Minister Theresa May presented the UK-EU draft withdrawal agreement to her Cabinet, a slew of ministers have quit in protest at the deal. Rob Mudge takes a look at who's gone so far.
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We was raabed
Dominic Raab, the UK's Brexit secretary, who was nominally the chief British negotiator for the deal now on the table said on Thursday: " I cannot in good conscience support the terms proposed for our deal with the EU." Raab was reportedly disgruntled at being sidelined in the negotiations in favor of Olly Robbins — a civil servant who's close to May.
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On her vey
Esther McVey, the work and pensions minister, tendered her resignation shortly after Raab. In a letter to May she wrote that "It will be no good trying to pretend to [voters] that this deal honors the result of the referendum when it is obvious to everyone it doesn't."
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'UK in a half-way house'
Shailesh Vara, the junior Northern Ireland minister, became the first member of May's government to resign over the deal on Thursday. Vara, who voted for remain in the 2016 referendum, said May's deal "leaves the UK in a half-way house with no time limit on when we will finally be a sovereign nation."
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Not so brave
Suella Braverman, a junior minister in the Department for Exiting the European Union, also quit saying in a letter "I now find myself unable to sincerely support the deal agreed yesterday by cabinet." The proposed Northern Ireland backstop, she wrote, was not
what the British people voted for, and threatened to break up the United Kingdom.
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'Unacceptable deal'
Junior Education Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said in her resignation letter that it was now clear to her that "the negotiations have been built on the UK trying to appease the EU and we have allowed ourselves to be led into a deal which is unacceptable to the 17.4 million voters who asked for us to step away from the EU project and become an independent nation once again."
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'Does not deliver a good and fair Brexit'
Ranil Jayawardena, parliamentary private secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions, wrote in his resignation letter that the draft deal is not fair to those who voted to leave the EU "taking back control of our laws, our borders and our money. The draft agreement does not do that."
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Brothers Johnson
Jo Johnson, the younger brother of Boris, who resigned as foreign secretary over Brexit in July, set the ball rolling last week after he resigned as transport minister over what he called Theresa May's "delusional" Brexit plans. Johnson — who backs Britain remaining in the EU — said he is supporting calls for a second referendum on whether the country should leave the bloc.
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Raab said he could not "in good conscience support the terms proposed for our deal with the EU" in his resignation letter to May.
Condemnation in Parliament
May's Cabinet had approved the draft on Wednesday, but lawmakers from all parties denounced it during a parliamentary debate on Thursday morning.
Pro-Brexit Conservatives said it did not deliver the result a majority had voted for in the 2016 Brexit referendum. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the draft was "half-baked" and pledged that his party would vote against it.
May requires a majority in Parliament to approve the deal after it has been signed off by EU leaders. But widespread parliamentary opposition has raised doubts about whether she can get the deal approved.
EU leaders are set to meet on November 25 at a special summit in Brussels to discuss the draft agreement.
