Theresa May to continue Brexit fight in Brussels after no confidence vote survival with '10 minute plea to EU leaders'

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Theresa May will head to Brussels seeking fresh concessions for her Brexit deal after seeing off a bid to oust her as Tory leader.

The Prime Minister is to address EU leaders at the two-day European Council after narrowly surviving a confidence vote by Tory MPs last night.

However her trip comes amid reports she will only be granted 10 minutes with EU leaders to make her case.

A senior Brussels diplomat told the Telegraph that there is "very little appetite indeed for anything legally-binding".

Mrs May will travel to the Belgian capital today, still facing the same dilemma she faced before the day of drama in Westminster: how to convince the EU to tweak the Withdrawal Agreement so that it will be passed by Parliament.

Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement outside 10 Downing Street after she survived the confidence vote
PA

European Parliament chiefs warned that MEPs would vote down any deal that sought significant changes to the backstop.

The Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament said in a statement: "The Conference reconfirmed its view that the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration are fair and balanced and represent, given EU principles, current UK red lines and the commitments set out in the Good Friday Agreement, the only deal possible to ensure an orderly withdrawal from the European Union.

"It stressed that renegotiating the backstop was not possible since it is the guarantee that in whatever circumstances there could be no hardening of the border on the island of Ireland.

"The Conference reiterated that without a backstop Parliament would not give its consent to the Withdrawal Agreement." ​

Speaking outside 10 Downing Street moments after it was announced the majority of the Tory party had confidence in her, Mrs May pledged to seek “legal and political assurances” on the Brexit backstop to allay MPs’ concerns about her deal.

She told of her “renewed missions”, saying: “Following this ballot, we now need to get on with the job of delivering Brexit for the British people and building a better future for this country." This must involve "politicians of all sides coming together and acting in the national interest," she added.

But Mrs May had earlier sowed the seeds for her eventual departure by telling Tory MPs at a meeting of the backbench 1922 committee that she would not lead the party into the next general election, which is expected in 2022.

According to MPs present at the meeting, she also promised to find a "legally binding solution" to ensuring the UK does not get permanently trapped in a backstop arrangement to keep the Irish border open after Brexit.

The scale of this task was highlighted by Irish premier Leo Varadkar and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, who insisted in a phone call as MPs voted that the UK's Withdrawal Agreement "cannot be reopened or contradicted".

Sir Graham Brady (centre), chairman of the 1922 Committee, announces that Theresa May has survived
PA

DUP leader Arlene Foster, who met Mrs May shortly before the ballot, insisted that "tinkering around the edges" of the agreement would not be enough to win her party's support for the deal.

Mrs Foster, whose 10 MPs prop up the minority Conservative administration, said she told the PM that "we were not seeking assurances or promises, we wanted fundamental legal text changes".

Immediately after the vote result was announced by 1922 chairman Sir Graham Brady, she faced calls to resign from Brexit-backing MPs including Jacob Rees-Mogg, who said that she had lost the confidence of more than one-third of her MPs and a majority of backbenchers.

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg demanded that Theresa May resign
PA

Mr Rees-Mogg said Mrs May should resign "as soon as the Queen has a moment in her diary to see her".

The hardline European Research Group (ERG) vowed to continue opposing Mrs May's "disastrous" Brexit deal, with a spokesman warning: "The parliamentary arithmetic remains unchanged."

But other Brexiteers said they would end their efforts to unseat the Tory leader. Conservative MP Crispin Blunt said: "The leadership question is now behind us for a year and we must get behind Theresa May in delivering Brexit."

It was Mrs May's decision to pull a vote on her deal in the face of what she acknowledged would have been a heavy defeat earlier this week which sparked a new wave of letters of no confidence from Tories, triggering the challenge to her position.

Mrs May's victory in the confidence vote means that another challenge cannot be mounted against her position as Tory leader for a year. But she still faces the danger of a no-confidence motion in the House of Commons, which could bring her Government down if backed by more than half of all MPs.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the "dismal" deal should be put before MPs next week.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell hinted that Labour could call the motion next week if Mrs May does not get changes to the Withdrawal Agreement that it wants, telling ITV's Peston: "We will just have to judge what she comes back with on Sunday night, Monday morning, see what the statement is in the House of Commons on Monday and take a proper judgment then."

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