82 Per Cent of Conservative Party Members Want Theresa May to Resign

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - MAY 11: Prime Minister Theresa May attends the London Conference
Jack Hill - WPA Pool/Getty

A new poll by the ConservativeHome website shows that the vast majority of Conservative members want Theresa May to stand down immediately.

The poll, the third such survey in the last two months, showed that support for the prime Minister resigning had surged from 71 per cent a month ago to a staggering 82 per cent now.

The poll follows abysmal results for the Conservatives in the local elections held on Thursday, in which the party lost over 1,300 councillors. The party is also expected to do badly in the upcoming European Parliament elections due on May 23rd.

According to the latest YouGov poll, the Conservatives are in a distant third place on 13 per cent behind the Brexit Party on 30 per cent and Labour on 21 per cent.

The poll follows calls by many members including former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith for Mrs May to set an immediate date for her departure.

Deputy Chairman of the European Research Group (ERG) Mark Francois echoed Mr Duncan Smith’s calls on Sunday, saying, “Iain Duncan Smith called on her to go yesterday, I entirely endorse Iain’s call.”

“We cannot go on like this, the only way we will leave the European Union realistically is with a leader who actually believes in it,” Mr Francois told LBC radio.

Other members, including many of the influential backbench 1922 Committee of MPs have told Mrs May to go or suggested that they will change party rules in order to force a second vote of no confidence in her leadership.

Mrs May survived a first vote of no-confidence in December and party rules state that a second contest cannot be held for a following 12 months. Members are prepared to move to change these rules, however, following the local election results.

Former Cabinet member Priti Patel said that after speaking to voters while campaigning, they “very categorically said she [May] is part of the problem.”

On Wednesday grassroots Conservative members took the extreme measure of forcing an Extraordinary General Meeting to hold a vote of no-confidence in Theresa May’s leadership themselves. This is the first time in the history of the Conservative Party that such action has been taken.

Seventy Constituency Association Chairmen signed a letter insisting on an EGM to discuss the Prime Minister’s future; however, this vote is only advisory and not binding.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.