May takes swipe at Tory critics ahead of ‘critical’ week for Brexit

Theresa May took a swipe at Tory rivals in the UK threatening to unseat her as party leader as she warned the next seven days would be “critical” to achieving a successful Brexit.

The British Prime Minister warned that a change of leadership would not make it easier to get a deal past parliament or the EU, after furious Brexiteer backbenchers started moves to remove her.

She told Sky’s Ridge On Sunday that as far as she knew the 48-letter threshold for letters of no confidence needed to start a leadership battle had yet to be reached. In a message to those plotting her downfall, including members of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic MPs, she said she had not considered quitting.

She added: “A change of leadership at this point isn’t going to make the negotiations any easier and it isn’t going to change the parliamentary arithmetic.

“What it will do is bring in a degree of uncertainty. That is uncertainty for people and their jobs.
“What it will do is mean that it is a risk that we delay the negotiations and that is a risk that Brexit gets delayed or frustrated.”

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She added that the next seven days “are going to be critical”, and said she would be travelling back to Brussels to talk with key figures including Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president ahead of an emergency European Council summit on November 25.
Responding to Mrs May’s interview, a source in the ERG said: “We have negotiated in good faith with the iceberg and cannot break our commitments to it.”