MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Resilient PM May tells parliament and public opinion she is going to see Brexit deal through

Theresa May vowed to get the deal signed off in Brussels and put it to a vote of MPs. It follows a string of ministerial resignations and talk of a no-confidence vote

Theresa May has dismissed speculation she could be ousted as prime minister over her Brexit agreement, saying: “I am going to see this through.” Speaking in Downing Street, on Thursday the prime minister said: “The course I have set out is the right one for our country and all our people.”

She vowed to get the deal signed off in Brussels and put it to a vote of MPs. It follows a string of ministerial resignations and talk of a no-confidence vote from Tory MPs.

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey both quit earlier in protest at the withdrawal agreement, along with two junior ministers.

And leading backbench Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg submitted a letter of no confidence in Mrs May to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the Tories' backbench 1922 Committee. A vote will be triggered if 48 Tory MPs write letters to Sir Graham. It is understood 48 letters have not yet been received.

Mrs. May spent nearly three hours fielding largely critical questions from MPs before holding a press conference in Downing Street to further answer her critics. She acknowledged the agreement had entailed “difficult and sometimes uncomfortable decisions”.

“I understand fully that there are some who are unhappy with those compromises but this deal delivers what people voted for and it is in the national interest,” she said.

“We can only secure it, if we unite behind the agreement reached in cabinet yesterday. If we do not move forward with that agreement, nobody can know for sure the consequences that will follow.

”It will be to take a path of deep and grave uncertainty when the British people just want us to get on with it. They are looking to the Conservative Party to deliver.“

Asked if she would carry on as prime minister if she won a no-confidence vote by a single vote, Mrs. May said: ”Leadership is about taking the right decisions, not the easy ones.“

She said her job was to ”bring back a deal that delivers on the vote of the British people“. She added: ”I believe this is a deal which does deliver that, which is in the national interest and am I going to see this through? Yes.”