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May Says Currently Not Enough Letters From UK MPs to Trigger No-Confidence Vote

LONDON (Sputnik) - UK Prime Minister Theresa May said in an interview with Sky News broadcaster on Sunday that there were currently not enough no-confidence letters from Conservative lawmakers to trigger a motion of no confidence.
Sputnik

"As far as I know, no," May said, asked, whether the threshold of 48 letters, necessary for the vote of no confidence, had been reached.

On Thursday, May defended a draft Brexit deal in the UK Parliament's House of Commons. The agreement faced criticism both from the opposition and from the ruling party, with several members of May's Cabinet having resigned over the disagreement with the deal.

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The disappointment in May's 585-page withdrawal agreement prompted Tory Brexiteers to launch a no-confidence campaign. To remove May from office, the ruling Conservative Party needs to provide related letters from at least 15 percent of the Conservative parliamentarians to the 1922 Committee of the UK Parliament's House of Commons, dealing with the party leadership matters.

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As of Saturday, they have secured 37 letters.

While some lawmakers called for a new Brexit referendum, May rejected the idea and called on the parliament to approve the agreement in order to avoid "more division" and "more uncertainty."

The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in a referendum in June 2016 and is expected to do so by late March 2019 despite a number of stumbling blocks that impede talks, namely, the Irish border and the post-Brexit UK-EU economic relations.

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