200 to 117: Theresa May survives leadership challenge

Latest: Theresa May has survived the challenge to her leadership this evening.

200 of the 316 MPs voted to save the prime minister, however, 117 voted for her to be ousted from the leadership of the Tory party.

Mrs May will remain as British Prime Minister and cannot be challenged in a leadership contest for at least one year.

More as we have it.

Theresa May awaits her fate as voting closes on confidence ballot

Update 8pm: Voting has closed in this evenings confidence ballot of Theresa May as leader of the Conservative party.

• Ballot closed at 8pm with a result expected at 9pm
• May needs 159 MP votes of 316 to retain her position as leader
• The British Prime Minister has said she will not lead the Conservatives into the next election

Conservative MPs have been voting in Westminster since 6pm on her leadership.

She needs more than half of the 316 Tory MPs to back her to stay on.

Before the vote, she told them that she will stand down as leader before the next general election.

Three black ballot boxes were taken from committee room 14 into neighbouring committee room 15 for counting, past a waiting crowd of journalists.

Reporters have now been allowed in to committee room 14 for the announcement of the result of the confidence vote.

Theresa Mary will not lead Tories into next election

Update: Theresa May has told Conservative MPs she will not lead the party into the next general election.

The promise came after the Prime Minister vowed to fight “with everything I’ve got” to retain her place as Tory leader as she faced an attempt to oust her through a confidence vote.

Mrs May looked set to see off the challenge to her leadership, as scores of Tory MPs made public statements of support.

And she received an enthusiastic welcome as she addressed Conservative MPs at the backbench 1922 Committee moments before the crucial vote began at 6pm, with backers banging their desks to show their support.

Cabinet minister Amber Rudd said: “She was very clear that she won’t be taking the general election in 2022.”

Other MPs indicated that Mrs May had promised to find a “legally binding solution” to ensuring that the UK does not get permanently trapped in a backstop arrangement to keep the Irish border open after Brexit.

Anger over the backstop among Tory backbenchers and their Democratic Unionist Party allies was the main obstacle to Mrs May getting her Brexit deal through the House of Commons earlier this week.

Her decision to defer the vote sparked a new wave of letters of no confidence which pushed the total beyond the threshold of 48 needed to trigger a ballot.

Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said he was not persuaded by the Prime Minister’s assurances to vote for her in the ballot.

He told the Press Association: “It was all the same old stuff. Nothing has changed.”

Downing Street aides declined to discuss whether the PM would stay on if she won by only a slender margin.

Failure in the ballot would trigger a leadership contest in which Mrs May could not stand.

But if she wins, another challenge cannot be mounted against her position as Tory leader for a year.

Foster warns PM ‘tinkering around edges’ of backstop is not enough

Update: After meeting with Mrs May at the House of Commons this afternoon, DUP leader Arlene Foster insisted that “tinkering around the edges” of the Withdrawal Agreement would not be enough to win her party’s support for the deal.

“We had a useful meeting with the Prime Minister,” she said.

“It was an opportunity to outline why the current Withdrawal Agreement is dangerous to our economy and the Union.

“We emphasised that tinkering around the edges would not work. We were not seeking assurances or promises. We wanted fundamental legal text changes.”

Theresa May is addressing Tory MPs ahead of tonight’s confidence vote.

Several outbursts of banging could be heard coming from inside the committee room as she addressed MPs.

MPs have said that Mrs May will not stand in the UK’s next General Election, according to Sky News.

Earlier: More than 50% of Tory MPs publicly backing Theresa May ahead of vote

Theresa May has been given public backing from more than half of all Tory MPs ahead of the vote to decide on her fate.

More than 160 of the 317 Conservatives have declared they will support her in the confidence motion, enough to prevent the British Prime Minister being ousted.

According to Sky News, 171 Tory MPs have said they will back her.

But the ballot will be conducted in secret and there have been claims some public declarations of support may not be guarantees which the Prime Minister can count on.

The vote will be held from 6pm to 8pm, and with the restoration of the whip increasing the number of Tory MPs to 316, Mrs May now needs 159 votes – half of the parliamentary party plus one – to secure her position.

And a narrow victory margin would not necessarily secure Mrs May’s survival as she may find it politically impossible to govern having lost the support of a substantial element of her party.

Every MP in the Cabinet has issued a message of support for the Prime Minister, along with senior Tories on the back benches.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove, a leading Brexiteer, said he was “backing the Prime Minister 100%”.

He said: “The one thing I would ask every Conservative MP to do is to ponder before they cast their vote this evening: If we don’t support the Prime Minister, then we risk derailing or diluting Brexit.

“If we do support the Prime Minister we can honour the mandate that the British people have given us.”

Former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan said she would back the Prime Minister – but added: “It’s also clear there has to be a full debate about the Conservative leadership and direction well before (the) next election.”

Remain-supporting Tory former minister Anna Soubry said she was “appalled and embarrassed” by events at Westminster.

“I am ashamed to call myself a Conservative given the irresponsible actions of a small group of Conservative MPs who have called a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister,” she said in an email to constituents.

“The last thing our country needs or wants is a change in Prime Minister.”

But Mrs May’s critics were also seeking to drum up support for their effort to depose her.

European Research Group chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg said: “The country needs a new leader, it is time for Mrs May to resign.”

Tewkesbury MP Laurence Robertson said he would be voting for a “fresh start” because he feared if Mrs May carries on the Government would collapse, resulting in a general election and the possibility of a Labour victory.

Lee Rowley, MP for North East Derbyshire, said he would be “voting for change” as “we must aim higher”.

Brexiteer Andrea Jenkyns, who submitted one of the letters calling for a no confidence vote, told BBC Radio 4’s World At One: “What they say publicly is different to what they do because it’s a secret ballot.

“I have had people who I know very well – friends and colleagues – who have said ‘publicly they will say this’, but it has come to the stage where we need a new leader.”

She claimed there were “about six” ministers who had told her they would vote Mrs May out.