LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May survived a confidence vote from her Conservative party on Wednesday, but more than a third of her lawmakers said she was no longer the right leader to implement Britain’s exit from the European Union. 
 
 Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks at Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London, Britain, December 12, 2018. Parliament TV handout via REUTERS 
 
 Britain’s March 29 exit has been plunged into crisis by parliamentary opposition to the divorce deal she struck with the EU last month, which has opened up possibilities including a delay to Brexit or even another referendum on membership. 
 
 May on Monday cancelled a parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal, designed to maintain close future ties with the bloc and agreed after two years of negotiations, after it became clear she would lose it badly. 
 
 Eurosceptic critics of the deal within her own party triggered a no-confidence vote in her leadership hours after she returned from talks with European leaders aimed at winning additional assurances about her deal. 
 
 After two hours of voting in Committee Room 14 in the House of Commons, Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers, said 200 Conservative lawmakers had voted in support of May as leader, and 117 against, indicating her party was bitterly divided over the direction of Brexit. 
 
 Supporters said the result showed the party should now get behind her. But the hardline Brexit supporters who triggered the vote because they saw her deal as a betrayal of the 2016 referendum said she should now quit. 
 
 “It is a terrible result for the prime minister,” Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of a hard Brexit faction in the party, told BBC Television. “The prime minister must realise that, under all constitutional norms, she ought to go and see the queen urgently and resign.” 
 
 But May loyalist Chris Grayling, her transport minister, said the party had endorsed her “comfortably”. 
 
 ENDANGERING BREXIT? 
 
 May, who voted to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum, had warned opponents of her withdrawal deal - struck after two years of negotiations - that if they toppled her, Brexit would be delayed or stopped. 
 
 Shortly before the vote, May sought to win over wavering lawmakers by promising to step down before the 2022 election. 
 
 Brexit is Britain’s most significant political and economic decision since World War Two. Pro-Europeans fear the departure will weaken the West as it grapples with the U.S. presidency of Donald Trump and growing assertiveness from Russia and China. 
 
 The outcome will shape Britain’s $2.8 trillion economy, have far-reaching consequences for the unity of the kingdom and determine whether London keeps its place as one of the top two global financial centres. 
 
 Supporters of Brexit admit there may be some short-term pain for Britain’s $2.9 trillion economy, but say it will prosper in the long term when cut free from the EU, which they cast as a failing German-dominated experiment in European integration. 
 
 May, 62, won the top job in the turmoil that followed the 2016 EU referendum, where Britons decided by 52 percent to 48 to leave the EU. She promised to implement Brexit while keeping close ties to the bloc, to heal a divided nation. 
 
 Sterling jumped as high as $1.2672 GBP=D3 as the result came in but then fell to $1.2605, still up 1 percent on the day, after it emerged that the number of lawmakers who had voted against May was higher than many in the markets had expected. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Theresa May smiles at gathered journalists as she awaits the result 
 
 Theresa May is awaiting the result of a vote by Conservative MPs on whether they want to keep her as their leader. 
 
 The UK prime minister made a last-minute appeal for support at an emotional meeting of backbench MPs. 
 
 She told them she will not lead the party into the next scheduled election in 2022 - but wants to stay on to deliver her Brexit deal, MPs said. 
 
 She faces a vote of confidence in her leadership after 48 Conservative MPs called for one to be held. 
 
 The majority of Conservative MPs have publicly said they will support the PM but it is a secret ballot and there were signs of nerves among party managers ahead of the vote in Committee Room 14 at the Palace of Westminster. 
 
 Voting finished at 20:00 with the result expected within the next hour. 
 
 The prime minister was greeted with applause, and the traditional banging of desks, as she went in to the committee room to address her MPs. Some of them were reported to be in tears. 
 
 She is understood to have promised not to call a "snap general election" and told MPs that in her heart she would have liked to have led them into the next scheduled election, partly because of what had happened at last year's election, when she lost her majority. 
 
 But, she added: "I realise that the party would like a different leader to take them into that election." 
 
 Cabinet minister Amber Rudd said "she was very clear that she wont be taking the general election in 2022". 
 
 But Jacob Rees-Mogg, a key figure in the campaign to oust Mrs May, said she had received a "half-hearted" reception from MPs. 
 
 She had said it was not her "intention" to fight the next election, added Mr Rees-Mogg, which he said was a "politician's word". 
 
 Marcus Fysh, who also submitted a no confidence letter, said Mrs May "didn't really have anything new to say" about Brexit. 
 
 She vowed to involve more people in developing policy, the MP told BBC News, but he did not think that would happen. 
 
 And he predicted that the prime minister would face a no-confidence vote of all MPs - not just Conservative ones - when she tried to get her Brexit deal through the Commons. 
 
 "Whatever happens tonight I don't think she will be able to command the confidence of the House for the type of Brexit she is trying to pursue." 
 
 Minister Margot James said she was "proud" to have voted for the PM, tweeting a picture of her ballot paper. 
 
 Conservative Party rules say that if she wins tonight she can stay on as leader, undisturbed, for another 12 months. 
 
 That takes one uncertainty off the table. But she would be weaker - lonelier - and with less authority to drive her Brexit compromise through. 
 
 Already, cabinet ministers are speculating about which way she can tack. 
 
 The parliamentary sums don't change on her current planned agreement with the EU. The cabinet, let alone the rest of the Commons, won't give their backing. 
 
 Read Laura's blog 
 
 Can she survive the confidence vote? 
 
 Immediate statements of loyalty for the prime minister were issued by every member of her cabinet, including several who have been touted as possible successors. 
 
 Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Mrs May was "the best person to make sure we actually leave the EU on March 29", while Chancellor Philip Hammond suggested the vote would "flush out the extremists" in his party whose Brexit agenda was "not in the interests of the British people". 
 
 So far, 174 Tory MPs have publicly said they will vote for her, with 34 publicly against, according to BBC research. She needs to secure the votes of 159 MPs to survive. 
 
 If Mrs May wins the confidence vote she cannot be challenged as Conservative leader for at least another year. 
 
 If she does not win the vote there would then be a Conservative leadership contest in which she could not stand. 
 
 If Mrs May won - but not overwhelmingly - she may decide to stand down as party leader and trigger a leadership contest in which she could not stand. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Sir Graham Brady says he phoned the prime minister to advise her the threshold of 48 letters had been reached 
 
 What has Theresa May said? 
 
 In her statement delivered early on Wednesday morning, Mrs May said: "A leadership election would not change the fundamentals of the negotiation or the Parliamentary arithmetic. 
 
 "Weeks spent tearing ourselves apart will only create more division just as we should be standing together to serve our country. None of that would be in the national interest." 
 
 She said she was making progress in her talks with EU leaders and vowed to "deliver on the referendum vote and seize the opportunities that lie ahead". 
 
 The Conservatives had to build a "country that works for everyone" and deliver "the Brexit people voted for". 
 
 "I have devoted myself unsparingly to these tasks ever since I became prime minister and I stand ready to finish the job." 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "I stand ready to finish the job" - Theresa May 
 
 Will there be a new prime minister if she loses the vote? 
 
 Not immediately. She would be expected to stay on as a caretaker prime minister until a new Conservative leader is selected by the party, a process that could take up to six weeks. 
 
 If there are multiple candidates, Conservative MPs hold a series of votes to choose two to go forward to a vote of party members. 
 
 As leader of the largest party in the Commons, the new Conservative leader would then be expected to be asked to form a government and become prime minister, without a general election. 
 
 It's Wednesday, so... Prime Minister's Questions 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Jeremy Corbyn criticises Theresa May at PMQs 
 
 Mrs May faced repeated calls from Labour MPs for her to quit - or hold another EU referendum - at a rowdy Prime Minister's Questions. 
 
 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "The time for dithering and delay is over. The prime minister has negotiated her deal. She has told us it is the best and only deal available. 
 
 "There can be no more excuses, no more running away. Put it before Parliament and let's have the vote." 
 
 Mrs May said the vote will take place, and as Labour MPs shouted "when?" at her she said: "We've had a meaningful vote, we had it in in the referendum in 2016." 
 
 The PM added: "And if he wants a meaningful date I'll give him one; 29 March 2019 when we leave the European Union." 
 
 Veteran pro-European MP Ken Clarke called the prospect of a leadership contest "unhelpful, irrelevant and irresponsible", prompting loud cheers from the Tory benches. 
 
 But the SNP's leader at Westminster Ian Blackford called on Mrs May to stand down, saying her government was "an embarrassment". 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption 'The inconstant gardener' - May's PMQs swipe at Labour 
 
 Who is trying to oust Mrs May? 
 
 Image copyright PA Image caption Jacob Rees-Mogg: In the national interest, she must go 
 
 The challenge has been brought by Conservative MPs who think Mrs May has watered down the Brexit voters were promised in the 2016 referendum. 
 
 The PM thought she had seen off an attempt by this group of Brexiteers to get rid of her last month. 
 
 But her decision to cancel Tuesday's Parliamentary vote on her deal at the last minute proved to be the final straw for many who had previously given her the benefit of the doubt. 
 
 There needed to be 48 MPs calling for her to go - out of 317 Conservative MPs - to trigger a confidence vote and this threshold was reached on Tuesday. 
 
 Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has led backbench calls for her to go, said: "Theresa May's plan would bring down the government if carried forward. But our party will rightly not tolerate it. 
 
 "Conservatives must now answer whether they wish to draw ever closer to an election under Mrs May's leadership. In the national interest, she must go." 
 
 And Bernard Jenkin said the survival of the Conservative government depended on the support of the Democratic Unionists, who he said had lost faith in Mrs May. 
 
 Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston, who is campaigning for a further referendum, told BBC Radio 2 she hoped Mr Rees-Mogg's group would "get a kicking" in the vote and that their "pompous gesturing" will be exposed. 
 
 Why are they trying to get rid of her? 
 
 They don't like the deal she has struck with the EU, which they say will keep the UK tied to the EU indefinitely with no say over its rules and unable to strike trade deals around the world. 
 
 Anger has focused on the so-called "backstop" to prevent the return of a physical border in Northern Ireland. 
 
 Mrs May has said she is seeking guarantees that this clause will be "temporary" but the Democratic Unionist Party, which she relies on to win key votes, wants the backstop to be ditched altogether. 
 
 And her Conservative critics think she will not be able to get anything more than cosmetic changes to her withdrawal deal because EU leaders say it can not be renegotiated. 
 
 Who are the frontrunners to lead the party if she loses? 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Jeremy Hunt, Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab, Michael Gove, Sajid Javid and Amber Rudd 
 
 There are many names being floated, with Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd among cabinet ministers rated by the bookmakers. 
 
 Former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, ex-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and ex-Brexit Secretary David Davis are the ex-cabinet ministers also judged to be in the running. 
 
 But, as BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg says, the field of hopefuls could be much larger and, initially at least, resemble the start of a Grand National. 
 
 What does it mean for Brexit? 
 
 Whatever the outcome of the vote, Mrs May is still likely to represent the UK at Thursday's summit of EU leaders, although that might change if she loses the Tory leadership. 
 
 She has been invited to update her 27 counterparts on the state of Brexit before they meet to "adopt relevant conclusions". 
 
 European Council President Donald Tusk has said the "seriousness" of the situation in the UK means the EU must accelerate its no-deal planning. 
 
 Mrs May met Germany's Angela Merkel and top EU officials on Tuesday as part of efforts to get changes to her EU deal to get it through the UK Parliament. 
 
 But she was forced to call off talks with Irish premier Leo Varadkar, among others, on Wednesday to fight for her leadership. 
 
 Mrs May says any new Conservative leader would have to delay Brexit to renegotiate a deal with the EU while she has also suggested a leadership contest will effectively hand control of the Brexit process to MPs - many of whom either back leaving without a deal or having another referendum. 
 
 Many of those calling for her to go say they would be happy for the UK to leave the EU on World Trade Organization terms, without a deal. They say warnings of economic doom are exaggerated. ||||| 19:29 
 
 What about the ‘meaningful vote’? 
 
 The result clearly highlights May’s essential Brexit problem. The number of rebels at 117 is eyecatchingly similar to the 100 or so MPs who were planning to vote against her Brexit deal before she postponed the vote a day before its scheduled date of Tuesday. 
 
 It is a blocking minority preventing the current deal, or anything like it, from being ratified by parliament. To win round that amount of rebels, May has to make dramatic progress in her talks with Brussels and persuade the right of her party that she can “bin the backstop”. 
 
 However, the European Union has made it repeatedly clear that the legally binding 585-page withdrawal agreement – which contains the Northern Irish backstop – is not up for renegotiation. And without renegotiation, the backstop will endure and Tory rebels will almost certainly not vote for it. 
 
 No 10 has promised that the vote will happen before 21 January, which in negotiating terms is very little time at all. So the Brexit fundamentals at Westminster remain, for now, unchanged. ||||| Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement in Downing Street, London, confirming there will be a vote of confidence in her leadership of the Conservative Party, Wednesday Dec. 12, 2018. The... (Associated Press) 
 
 LONDON (AP) — The Latest on political turmoil in Britain (all times local): 
 
 5:35 p.m. 
 
 Prime Minister Theresa May is speaking to dozens of Conservative lawmakers, less than half an hour before a no-confidence vote among them that will decide her fate. 
 
 May was greeted by table banging as she entered a room in the House of Commons to address backbenchers. 
 
 That is a customary sign of approval, but May faces a tough crowd that includes rivals such as former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and ex-Brexit Secretary David Davis. 
 
 Both are among critics of May's Brexit deal with the European Union. 
 
 Tory Brexiteers are hoping to topple May in Wednesday evening's vote. She is making a last-minute appeal, saying ditching her now would plunge the country into even more uncertainty. 
 
 One lawmaker who attended, James Cleverly, said May "made it very clear that there is a job of work to be done (on Brexit) and this is a delay and a distraction." 
 
 ___ 
 
 4:25 p.m. 
 
 British bookmakers William Hill say they've suspended betting on the question of whether Prime Minister Theresa May will win a confidence vote by her party. 
 
 William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams says that the odds favored May from the beginning of the day, and did nothing but improve as Wednesday night's vote neared. Before betting was suspended, people putting money on a May win had to wager 10 pounds to win one pound. 
 
 Adams says the firm suspended betting because "we're 100 percent certain she's going to win." 
 
 ___ 
 
 4 p.m. 
 
 Some Londoners are reacting with sympathy at the news that Prime Minister Theresa May faces a confidence vote that may remove her from power. 
 
 Abby Handbridge, a trader at Chapel Market in north London, said Wednesday that the spectacle was "embarrassing" for Britain in the eyes of the world. 
 
 "I feel really sorry for Theresa May," she said. "She's being battered by everybody and Boris Johnson has just come out with a haircut and weight loss so we know what he is looking for." 
 
 Another trader, 61-year-old David White, compared May's Conservative Party challengers to "rats deserting a sinking ship." 
 
 "I don't think it should have come to this," he said of the formal challenge to May. 
 
 Support was hardly unanimous, though, with some traders saying May is power hungry. 
 
 Lawmakers casting their votes of confidence in a secret ballot later Wednesday. 
 
 ___ 
 
 1:45 p.m. 
 
 Germany's Cabinet has approved legislation to protect British residents' rights in the country in the event of a no-deal Brexit and to make the country a more attractive location for banks seeking to relocate. 
 
 Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said ministers have approved a bill safeguarding the German health insurance, unemployment insurance and pension status of British citizens living in Germany and German citizens living in Britain at the time of Brexit. 
 
 The future status of those citizens affected by the Brexit process remains especially uncertain following the news earlier that Prime Minister Theresa May will face a no-confidence vote later from lawmakers in her own party. A withdrawal agreement ahead of Britain's exit from the European Union in March has yet to be voted on by the British Parliament. 
 
 Another German bill foresees loosening the requirement for banks to justify why they're ending a contract with a highly paid employee deemed to be a "bearer of risk," such as heads of department or high-volume traders. 
 
 Germany has much more restrictive rules on dismissing workers than Britain, which is seen as a disincentive for Britain-based banks to shift operations to Frankfurt. 
 
 ___ 
 
 12:25 p.m. 
 
 German Chancellor Angela Merkel is underlining the European Union's insistence on sticking to the Brexit agreement as it stands, but stressing that she remains committed to an orderly British withdrawal. 
 
 Merkel, who met Tuesday with British Prime Minister Theresa May, noted that "things are in flux" in London. 
 
 She said that "we do not have any intention of changing the withdrawal agreement" but otherwise didn't go into detail. 
 
 Merkel said that Germany remains committed to securing an orderly British withdrawal, and said that "we don't have much time, but we still have time." 
 
 ___ 
 
 10:55 a.m. 
 
 Business figures have expressed alarm about the political uncertainty in the U.K. ahead of a Conservative Party confidence vote on Prime Minister Theresa May later. 
 
 Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said politicians should understand the impact of their "high stakes gambles" with Britain's economy. 
 
 "At one of the most pivotal moments for the U.K. economy in decades, it is unacceptable that Westminster politicians have chosen to focus on themselves, rather than on the needs of the country," he said after the Conservative Party said there would a vote on May's leadership. 
 
 He said there was "utter dismay" among businesses about the vote on Wednesday evening. 
 
 Federation of Small Businesses chairman Mike Cherry said the current turmoil is "weighing heavy" on entrepreneurs. 
 
 ___ 
 
 9 a.m. 
 
 British Prime Minister Theresa May says a change of national leader would result in Britain's departure from the European Union being delayed or stopped, as she vowed to fight to stay in power. 
 
 May made the defiant statement outside Downing Street on Wednesday, arguing that stepping aside at a time of crisis would "put our country's future at risk and create uncertainty when we can least afford it." 
 
 The U.K. leader is facing a no-confidence vote that will see her removed as party and government leader if she loses. 
 
 ___ 
 
 8:50 a.m. 
 
 U.K. leader Theresa May is vowing to fight a no-confidence vote "with everything I've got," appealing to party colleagues to support her leadership. 
 
 The announcement of the challenge to May's leadership throws Britain's already rocky path out of the European Union, which it is due to leave in March, into further chaos. 
 
 Many Tory lawmakers have been growing angry with May over her handling of Brexit, and the challenge comes days after she postponed a vote to approve a divorce deal with the EU to avoid all but certain defeat. 
 
 If she loses Wednesday's vote, May must step down and there will be a contest to choose a new leader. She will remain leader, and prime minister, until the successor is picked. If she wins, she can't be challenged again for a year. 
 
 ___ 
 
 7:55 a.m. 
 
 A British Conservative Party official says Prime Minister Theresa May will face a no-confidence vote from party lawmakers. 
 
 Graham Brady says the threshold of 48 letters from lawmakers needed to trigger a leadership vote has been reached. Brady chairs the party committee that oversees leadership contests. 
 
 Many lawmakers have been growing angry with May over her handling of Brexit. 
 
 If she loses the vote of party legislators, taking place on Wednesday evening, May must step down. If she wins, she can't be challenged again for a year.
– When Prime Minister Theresa May entered a room in the House of Commons to speak to Conservative lawmakers ahead of a no-confidence vote Wednesday, she was greeted by table banging—a customary sign of approval, reports the AP. It ended up being a prescient gesture: The BBC reports she needed the votes of 159 MPs to remain the Conservative leader, and she crossed that threshold, winning the confidence vote 200 votes to 117, reports the Guardian. It adds that after the words "does have confidence in..." were announced, it could not hear the rest due to the eruption of cheers. But Reuters reports May won't be in it for the long haul. In her pre-vote comments, she pledged to step down in advance of the 2022 parliamentary election. "She did say she wouldn't be fighting the next general election," one minister was quoted as saying. "It was quite emotional the way she put it, she said in my heart I wanted to do that but now I recognize that I am not going to."