LONDON (REUTERS) - British Prime Minister Theresa May formally notified her Conservative Party on Friday (June 7) that she had resigned as party leader, opening the way for a succession contest that will determine the country's next prime minister.

Mrs May will remain prime minister and acting party leader until Conservative Party lawmakers and members select a new leader after a process that is expected to last several weeks.

Nominations for the Conservative leadership close at 1600 GMT on Monday. </s> LONDON – Theresa May has resigned as leader of the Conservative party, triggering a leadership contest which will see her replaced as prime minister in late July.

The 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs confirmed that the prime minister had handed in her notice on Friday afternoon.

The committee confirmed that May would remain as acting leader of the Conservative and Unionist party until her successor had been announced.

Conservative MPs who wish to replace her must submit their formal applications by Monday.

Eleven MPs have announced their intention to stand, including frontrunner Boris Johnson, as well as Dominic Raab, Michael Gove, and Andrea Leadsom. </s> LOUISVILLE, Ky (WDRB) -- Theresa May says she will step down as U.K. Conservative Party leader on June 7, sparking a contest to become Britain's next prime minister.

That internal election process will begin in the days immediately following her resignation on June 7.

She will stay as caretaker prime minister until the new leader is chosen, a process likely to take several weeks.

May has bowed to relentless pressure from her party to quit over her failure to take Britain out of the European Union on schedule.

Her departure will trigger a party leadership contest in which any Conservative lawmaker can run. The early front-runner is Boris Johnson, a former foreign secretary and strong champion of Brexit.

Britain is currently due to leave the EU on Oct. 31, but Parliament has yet to approve divorce terms. </s> London [UK], Jun 7 (ANI): British Prime Minister Theresa May formally resigned as the head of the Conservative Party on Friday, setting off the campaign among eleven Members of Parliament to replace her, both as the party head and the country's PM.

However, May will remain the acting Prime Minister until a new leader is chosen, reports Sputnik.

In a tearful speech last month, 62-year-old May had announced that she would step down as the PM and party head, in consideration to the fact that she failed to pass her Brexit agreement in the Parliament despite repeated efforts and negotiations with the Labour Party.

At least eleven Conservative MPs are aiming to replace her, including the country's former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, and current Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, among others. The candidates are required to announce formal nominations next week, starting June 10.

May assumed the Prime Minister's office in July 2016 after her predecessor and party colleague David Cameron stepped down from the post, following the Brexit referendum, which saw 52 per cent of the electorate voting in favour of the country leaving the EU.

For long, May had been making efforts to push her beleaguered agreement or an alternative withdrawal deal through the British Parliament in a bid to prevent the UK from participating in the European Parliament elections. After the deal was rejected thrice in the UK parliament, May accepted her defeat and announced her resignation.

Last month, the EU leaders agreed to delay the Brexit process to another six months, with October 31 as the new date for the UK's withdrawal from the European bloc. (ANI) </s> Prime Minister Theresa May has officially resigned from her position as leader of the Conservative Party.

However she will remain as PM until a new Tory leader is elected.

The 62-year-old MP for Maidenhead announced her intention to stand down on May 24.

The race for the next party leader will begin on Monday with several MPs including Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Dominic Raab already putting their names forward for the role.

May was first elected as an MP in 1997 and was named party leader in 2016 after David Cameron stood down from the role following the EU referendum.

She decided to resign after repeatedly failing to her Brexit deal through parliament.

The next leader will have until October 31 to agree a deal that can gather enough support in Westminster or risk leaving the EU without a deal.

Download: The STV News app is Scotland's favourite and is available for iPhone from the App store and for Android from Google Play. Download it today and continue to enjoy STV News wherever you are. </s> Theresa May says she'll quit as UK Conservative leader on June 7, sparking contest for Britain's next prime minister

LONDON (AP) — Theresa May says she'll quit as UK Conservative leader on June 7, sparking contest for Britain's next prime minister. </s> U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May To Step Down June 7

Updated at 5:49 a.m. ET

Theresa May will step down as prime minister of the United Kingdom on June 7, she said Friday at No. 10 Downing St.

She came to the job in 2016 after U.K. voters backed plans to exit the European Union in a referendum. For the following three years, she attempted to navigate the difficult and complex process of making that happen.

"I feel as certain today as I did three years ago that in a democracy, if you give people a choice, you have a duty to implement what they decide," she said. "I have done my best to do that."

But she encountered ongoing opposition in the British Parliament, which repeatedly rejected her proposals to withdraw the U.K. from the EU.

"I believe it was right to persevere, even when the odds against success seemed high," May said Friday. "But it is now clear to me that it is in the best interest of the country for a new prime minister to lead that effort. So I am today announcing that I will resign as leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party on Friday the 7th of June so that a successor can be chosen."

May said the process for electing a new leader "should begin in the following week."

She said she informed the queen that she will continue to serve as prime minister until the process is completed. Reports from Reuters say that process could take six weeks, with May serving as a so-called caretaker prime minister.

"It is and will always remain a matter of deep regret to me that I have not been able to deliver Brexit. It will be for my successor to seek a way forward that honors the result of the referendum," May said.

Lawmakers in her Conservative Party had been pressuring her to resign and let a new leader see through the U.K.'s laborious planned withdrawal from the European Union.

On Thursday, May delayed plans to publish her latest bill to officially withdraw the U.K. from the EU. Parliament had already rejected May's earlier agreements negotiated with the EU three times this year.

Her latest withdrawal bill "tried to win over various interest groups by offering something for everyone: strengthened workers' rights to please the Labour left, an option for MPs to vote for a second referendum to entice Remainers," according to The Economist, which said the prime minister instead "ended up alienating them all."

There would have been "overwhelming pressure" for a no-confidence vote in May's leadership if she had not agreed on a departure date, Conservative lawmaker Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said earlier.

Adding to the pressure, the U.K. voted in European Parliament elections on Thursday, and the Conservatives are expected to do poorly when results are announced Sunday. A new Brexit Party, led by Brexiteer Nigel Farage, was leading polls.

President Trump is set to visit the U.K. from June 3-5. May had not wanted Trump's visit and D-Day anniversary celebrations "to be undermined by the unseemly spectacle of Tory MPs and ministers scrabbling and scrambling to replace her," according to ITV's Robert Peston.

Boris Johnson, a former foreign secretary, is seen as the current front-runner to take May's place. Johnson was a leader of the Brexit campaign in 2016.

In March, May offered to quit if Parliament were to pass her Brexit plan, but even that wasn't enough.

In April, the EU agreed to extend the U.K.'s deadline for passing a Brexit deal until Oct. 31. </s> The Latest on Brexit and Britain's political crisis (all times local):

Theresa May says she will step down as U.K. Conservative Party leader on June 7, sparking a contest to become Britain's next prime minister.

She will stay as caretaker prime minister until the new leader is chosen, a process likely to take several weeks.

May has bowed to relentless pressure from her party to quit over her failure to take Britain out of the European Union on schedule.

Her departure will trigger a party leadership contest in which any Conservative lawmaker can run. The early front-runner is Boris Johnson, a former foreign secretary and strong champion of Brexit.

Britain is currently due to leave the EU on Oct. 31, but Parliament has yet to approve divorce terms.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is meeting a leader of her Conservative lawmakers amid mounting speculation that she is about to announce her departure date.

The party's key backbench committee has set a showdown meeting Friday for May to agree to leave soon or face a leadership challenge.

Pressure on May to quit over her failure to get Parliament's approval for a European Union divorce deal reached critical point this week as a senior minister quit and several Cabinet colleagues expressed doubts about her Brexit bill.

Several British media outlets reported that May would agree to give up the prime minister's post June 10, sparking a Conservative leadership contest.

She could stay in office as a caretaker prime minister for several weeks until party lawmakers and members choose a successor. </s> Theresa May today announced her resignation as Prime Minister following her battle to push through a number of Brexit deals in the Houses of Parliament.

The embattled Prime Minister will stand down from her role on June 7.

North East Herts Conservative MP, Sir Oliver Heald, told this newspaper: "I am sorry that Theresa May has had such a difficult time as Prime Minister and hope she will continue to contribute to national politics.

"She has shown great resilience and I know many constituents admire her strength, as I do.

"She is a remarkable person. The next Prime Minister will face a big task in trying to resolve Brexit."

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South Cambridgeshire MP Heidi Allen - who left the Conservatives as a result of the party's policy on Brexit and is now the leader of Change UK - took to Twitter and said: "Oh Theresa May, why didn't we see that emotion more? Things could have been so different."

In her speech, Mrs May said: "I negotiated the terms of our exit and a new relationship with our closest neighbours that protects jobs, security and our union.

"I have done everything I can to convince MPs to back that deal, sadly I have not been able to do so, I tried three times.

"I believe it was right to persevere, even when the odds against success seemed high.

"But it is now clear to me that it is in the best interest of the country for a new Prime Minister to lead that effort, so I am today announcing that I will resign as leader of the Conservative and Unionist party on Friday, June 7, so that a successor can be chosen.

"I will shortly leave the job that has been the honour the honour of my life to hold. The second female Prime Minister, but certainly not the last.

"I do so with no ill will, but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love."
United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May announces her resignation as leader of the Conservative Party, effective June 7. She will remain Prime Minister until a successor is elected.