Theresa May’s allies accept her premiership is drawing to a close - Financial Times

Theresa May’s allies have conceded that her tenure as UK prime minister is drawing to a close, acknowledging that the next Queen’s Speech outlining the government’s legislative agenda is likely to be prepared by a new Conservative leader.

Downing Street officials have said the next address will only take place after parliament has passed the prime minister’s deal with Brussels to take Britain out of the EU.

As Mrs May has pledged to quit if MPs back the deal, her allies admitted to the Financial Times it was unlikely she would direct another programme for government.

She has failed three times to get her withdrawal agreement bill through the House of Commons, forcing her to accede to a six-month extension to Brexit until late October.

This means the Queen’s Speech, which was expected this spring, will almost certainly be postponed.

In June 2017, the last Queen’s Speech set out 27 bills, of which eight were dedicated entirely to measures around the UK leaving the EU.

There are also concerns Mrs May would not have the numbers in parliament to pass a fresh legislative agenda, given Tory Eurosceptic fury at the Brexit delay and the opposition to her deal from the Democratic Unionist party, whose votes give Mrs May her parliamentary majority.

“What we are focused on is the withdrawal agreement bill, because that is the legislation which is necessary in order to ratify our withdrawal from the EU,” Mrs May’s spokesman said. “That is part of the current Queen’s Speech cycle and we need to finish that work.”

Mrs May has been clear she will not lead the party into the next general election, which is due in 2022. But there are growing expectations that she will not remain in power until the end of the summer.

The Conservatives are steeling themselves for losses both in local elections on Thursday and in elections to the European Parliament that are very likely to take place on May 23.

Big losses in both, combined with a continued impasse over Brexit in Westminster, could make the pressure on Mrs May to stand down as leader overwhelming.

Conservative activists confirmed on Monday they would hold an emergency meeting of hundreds of grassroots members in June to debate a vote of no confidence in the prime minister’s leadership.

Mrs May was informed of the highly unusual move on Monday, after more than 70 chairs of local constituency associations handed in a petition to the party calling for the meeting. A no-confidence vote would be non-binding but highly symbolic.

The prime minister is now looking to talks with Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party as the principal way of delivering a Brexit breakthrough.

She updated the cabinet on the “serious and constructive” progress of the talks, which continued into Monday evening.

David Lidington, the Cabinet Office secretary who has been leading the negotiations, told the cabinet that further talks would be scheduled in the coming days to try to reach a final “conclusion” one way or another.

In practice that means the talks are likely to end by early next week: no meetings were scheduled for Tuesday.

“There is an understanding on the need to make progress on delivering . . . the way to leave the EU with a deal is to secure the safe passage of the withdrawal agreement bill,” Mrs May’s spokesman said. “The public want us to get on with this.”

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