Theresa May seeks support as she faces vote of no confidence

UK Prime Minister Theresa May will face a vote of confidence in her leadership on Wednesday evening.

Forty-eight conservative parliamentarians had requested for the vote.

The result of the voting exercise which is expected to be between 6pm and 8pm would determine if May would still hold her position as the leader of the conservative party or not.

It will be hard to predict the final outcome since it is a secret ballot, however, the result is expected to be announced immediately the voting ends.

In a statement delivered on Wednesday morning, May said she would contest the vote with everything she has.

“I will contest that vote with everything I have got,” May said.

“A leadership election would not change the fundamentals of the negotiation or the Parliamentary arithmetic.

“Weeks spent tearing ourselves apart will only create more division just as we should be standing together to serve our country. None of that would be in the national interest.

“I have devoted myself unsparingly to these tasks ever since I became prime minister and I stand ready to finish the job.”

She said she was making progress in her talks with EU leaders and vowed to “deliver on the referendum vote and seize the opportunities that lie ahead”.

She noted that changing conservative leader would “put our country’s future at risk and create uncertainty when we can least afford it”.

May must win majority support among the conservatives’ 315 members of parliament (MPs) to survive the vote.

Losing the vote means she will be forced to resign as party leader and will have to set out a date for standing down as prime minister.

She would be expected to stay on as interim prime minister until the conservatives elect a new leader.

However, if May wins the confidence vote, she cannot be challenged as conservative leader for at least another year.