Tories accept they are beaten as the UK heads to vote in EU elections

British voters are today heading to the polls to give their verdict on Theresa May's failure to deliver Brexit as her own MEPs warned they will all be wiped out spelling 'the end of our party'.

Mrs May is holed up in Downing Street refusing to resign with the Tories predicted to get 12 per cent of the vote in the European elections - 23 points behind Nigel Farage Brexit Party who are on 35 per cent.

The PM's party is also trailing Labour and the Liberal Democrats, the final opinion poll before today's election has revealed, but they may just edge out the Greens. 

Calls by Tory MPs for the Prime Minister to quit after the polls close at 10pm have hit fever pitch with former May loyalist, Sir David Evennett, a south-east London MP, tweeting: 'Theresa May must now resign. We need a new PM a new Cabinet and a new approach to Brexit.'

Tories have predicted the party's candidates will be wiped out in today's Euro elections with North West MEP Sajjad Karim warning today his party 'will live to regret' allowing people to vote today by failing to deliver Brexit, and said candidates had been cut adrift.

He said: 'We will be annihilated, the Conservative party will be annihilated. It was pretty much a case of sending in the foot soldiers and then the generals abandoned the battlefield. It was quite clear those that were supposed to be backing us up on the battlefield all abandoned as well, and the candidates were all left there looking for where the next round of bullets was going to come from'.

And in private messages, fellow Brussels Tory Daniel Hannan said the Conservatives will be left with no MEPs as voters flock to Nigel Farage's new party.

He also warned that the Tories faced 'the end of our party' and the election of a Corbyn government. His bleak assessment came as a poll showed the Tories could win just seven per cent of the vote. 

Mr Hannan, who represents the South East of England, made the comments on a WhatsApp group for Tory activists. 'I am expecting us to end up with zero MEPs,' he wrote. 'Sadly it will give Corbyn unstoppable momentum and this, paradoxically, will derail Brexit. Funny old world.' In separate messages, he suggested the Tories could slip below 10 per cent when votes are counted.

'If our members stay away, or vote for another party, we may well slip below 10 per cent – a level from which no party bounces back.

'We're looking, not just at a Corbyn government, but at the end of our party as a viable movement.'

Mrs May is set to announce her resignation following a dramatic Cabinet revolt yesterday where ministers savaged her concessions to Labour over Brexit.

Andrea Leadsom piled pressure on the Prime Minister by announcing her own resignation from the Cabinet last night. In a parting blast, the Commons Leader said she could not stomach the latest version of Mrs May's Brexit deal, with its offer of a second referendum.

Other ministers are said to be ready to go too if the Prime Minister tries to cling to power after today's European elections. The Tories are set to be decimated by Nigel Farage's Brexit Party.

It is understood that Sajid Javid, Jeremy Hunt and David Mundell will use ministerial meetings with Mrs May today to warn that they also consider the Withdrawal Agreement Bill unacceptable in its current form.

Tory backbenchers were in uproar over Mrs May's decision to seek Labour support in the hope of getting her deal through the House of Commons at the fourth attempt. At one stage yesterday, some aides believed she was on the verge of quitting on the spot – and even started preparations for a resignation statement. 

But chief whip Julian Smith later told the 1922 Committee that Mrs May intended to campaign in today's elections and would instead meet Sir Graham tomorrow.

Sources said meetings with senior ministers were postponed because Mrs May was having her regular audience with the Queen, who she was expected to brief on her intentions.

Conservative MPs were in uproar over the Prime Minister's decision to seek Labour support in the hope of getting her deal through the House of Commons at the fourth attempt.

Whitehall insiders said the legislation that Mrs May announced on Tuesday might now never see the light of day. Another ally said: 'We completely understand what has happened over the course of the last 24 hours. She wants to be able to say that, in her own words, in short order. You will see that clearly when the elections are done.' 

The Tory revolt came after ministers were briefed in detail on the proposed concessions to Labour, which also include the option of a temporary customs union.

Several were aghast at provisions in the legislation guaranteeing an act of parliament to deliver a second referendum if MPs voted for one.

Sources told the Mail that Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt joined Mrs Leadsom, Mr Javid, Mr Hunt and Mr Mundell in warning No 10 they could not support the legislation in its current form.

One Cabinet minister said: 'A lot of ministers are going to struggle to vote for this. I would certainly struggle with it as it is. It is opening the door to a second referendum – why would we do it?

'We cannot put this to a vote – it would expose exactly how split the party is and make life even harder for her successor.

'I don't think anyone in Cabinet is ready to call for her to go. People still want her to make her own mind up and leave on her own terms.

'But there is a lot of pressure to pull the Withdrawal Bill – and that amounts to calling for her to resign.'

Foreign Secretary Mr Hunt will today urge Mrs May to pull the planned vote on the legislation, which No 10 said was still pencilled in for the first week of June.

Sources close to Mr Javid said the Home Secretary would demand that the Prime Minister strip out the provisions for a second referendum altogether before going ahead with the legislation.

Scottish Secretary Mr Mundell is also said to be unwilling to accept anything that opens the door to a second vote, arguing it would fuel demands for Scottish independence.

Mrs May also faced a backbench revolt yesterday, with MPs demanding that the 1922 Committee tear up its own rules to allow an immediate vote of confidence in the PM. Sir Graham came under fire at a stormy meeting of the committee after warning that a rule change would set a dangerous precedent.

One MP accused him of going native. Another branded him a 'jellyfish'.

With polls suggesting the Conservatives could get just 7 per cent of the vote today, calls for Mrs May to go extended beyond the Tory Eurosceptic wing.

Leading moderate Tom Tugendhat said Mrs May had 'to go – and without delay'.

'She must announce her resignation after the European elections. And the Conservative Party must fast track the leadership process to replace her,' he insisted.

Attention is expected to turn quickly to the timetable for Mrs May's departure and the race to succeed her. Mrs Leadsom's resignation last night appeared to put the final nail in the PM's political coffin.

In her resignation letter, she told Mrs May that repeated compromises meant her plans did not represent Brexit in any meaningful sense.

But a Cabinet minister loyal to the PM rounded on Brexiteer leadership candidates such as Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab for encouraging their supporters to oppose the Bill, saying: 'They have got their heads in the sand.'

Former Tory minister Nick Boles said: 'I never thought Theresa May would be a good PM. I resigned as a minister the day she took office. But the sight of her former acolytes and boosters falling over themselves to bring her down is truly sickening.'