Ousting me won’t help, warns May

THERESA May took a swipe at Tory rivals threatening to unseat her as party leader as she warned the next seven days would be “critical” to achieving a successful Brexit.

The Prime Minister warned that a change of leadership would not make it easier to get a deal past parliament or the EU, after furious Brexiteer backbenchers started moves to remove her.

She said that as far as she knew, the 48-letter threshold for letters of no confidence needed to start a leadership battle had yet to be reached.

In a message to those plotting her downfall, including members of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic MPs, she said she had not considered quitting.

She added: “A change of leadership at this point isn’t going to make the negotiations any easier and it isn’t going to change the parliamentary arithmetic. What it will do is bring in a degree of uncertainty. That is uncertainty for people and their jobs.

“What it will do is mean that it is a risk that we delay the negotiations and that is a risk that Brexit gets delayed or frustrated.”

Mrs May’s interview came after former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, whose resignation last week was a key point in one of her most brutal weeks as PM, suggested she had failed to stand up to a bullying EU.

There were also continuing reports of a plan by senior Cabinet ministers who remain in Government to try to alter the withdrawal agreement at the 11th hour.

Mr Raab said he had been speaking with Andrea Leadsom and other ministers looking to change the deal. But he warned MPs against submitting no confidence letters, saying: “It’s a total distraction from what we need to do, we need to get Brexit over the line, we need to support our PM.

“I have worked very closely with her on Brexit and I think there is still the opportunity to get this right, support the Prime Minister – but she must also listen and change course on Brexit.”

Asked if she had considered stepping down, Mrs May said: “No I haven’t.

She added that the next seven days “are going to be critical”, and said she would be travelling back to Brussels to talk with key figures ahead of an emergency European Council summit on November 25.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn poured cold water on calls for Labour to back a second referendum, saying it was “an option for the future” but “not an option for today”.

The Labour leader also revealed that if there was another referendum, he did not know how he would vote.

Mrs May and Mr Corbyn will today make rival speeches at the CBI annual conference, where they will pitch for industry backing for their opposing Brexit visions.

Mrs May could find reassurance in the cautious backing her withdrawal agreement has already received from the CBI, which has long called for stability and warned of the impact of a no-deal Brexit.

Mr Corbyn is expected to tell delegates the Prime Minister’s plan is “a botched, worst-of-all-worlds deal”.