This is how the no confidence vote in Theresa May will work

Theresa May is facing a vote of no confidence in her leadership tonight, possibly triggering a Conservative leadership election.

This is how the process will work:

A leadership contest can be triggered in two ways. Either the leader must resign or, as in this case, at least 48 Conservative MPs (15% of the party) need to write to the chairman of the 1922 Committee expressing a lack of confidence in the current leader.

The 1922 Committee is a committee of all the Conservative backbench MPs led by Sir Graham Brady, which meets weekly while the House of Commons is sitting.

Tory MPs will then vote on whether they think the Prime Minister is fit to govern. If Mrs May wins – ie she secures at least 158 votes – another no-confidence vote cannot be held for another year.

The ballot will take place between 6 and 8pm this evening. At 5pm Theresa May will address her MPs in a final attempt to win support.

If she loses, a leadership election will be triggered.

Any MP who wishes to run as candidate needs the support of two fellow MPs in order to get onto the ballot paper. If only one candidate is nominated, they automatically become the next leader.

Tory MPs then vote using the first past the post system. If more than three candidates have been nominated, the one with the lowest proportion of votes is eliminated and another ballot is held. This process continues until two candidates remain.

Conservative Party members then vote for the two nominees, and the winner becomes the new leader. In this instance they will also become Prime Minister.

In a statement this morning, Sir Graham Brady said: “The threshold of 15% of the parliamentary party seeking a vote of confidence in the leader of the Conservative Party has been exceeded.

“In accordance with the rules, a ballot will be held between 1800 and 2000 on Wednesday 12th December in committee room 14 of the House of Commons. T

“The votes will be counted immediately afterwards and an announcement will be made as soon as possible in the evening. Arrangements for the announcement will be released later today.”