British Conservative MPs will take a vote of no-confidence in Prime Minister Theresa May this Wednesday evening after a sufficient number of MPs triggered a leadership challenge, but she has vowed to stay on.

The vote is scheduled as Prime Minister May was due to meet DUP leader Arlene Foster in London and travel to Dublin in the afternoon to meet An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. She said she has now cancelled the trip.

The prime minister has been on a tour of Europe to try and renegotiate the Brexit withdrawal agreement between the UK and the EU. Although the European bloc has stood firm on what has been negotiated so far, on Wednesday morning she said: "We are making progress."

She postponed a vote on the agreement initially scheduled on Tuesday over fears that it would be lost over opposition to the so-called backstop to guarantee against the return of a hard border in Ireland.

Uncertainty

The leadership challenge to Prime Minister May adds to the uncertainty surrounding the withdrawal agreement, which would avoid Irish farmers losing free access to their main export market overnight in the case of a no-deal Brexit next March.

She has warned that a new Conservative party leader and prime minister would not be in place in time to pass a Brexit withdrawal agreement by the legal deadline of 21 January, forcing the UK to delay or cancel its exit from the EU on 29 March.

"We must and we shall deliver on the referendum vote," Prime Minister May said, adding that she "stands ready" to do this.

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