THERESA MAY is expected to announce her resignation tomorrow.

She is due to meet Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee of back-bench Tory MPs, to discuss whether she would step down immediately. He said he hopes that she will quit.

Meanwhile, counts of ballot papers take place for the European Parliament election, in which the Conservatives are expecting to be “annihilated,” Tory MEP Sajjad Karim told PoliticsHome. 

Mr Karim’s stark warning came as voters headed to the polls to elect their MEPs, despite the government’s promise that Britain would have left the EU by the time the process took place.

Hundreds of EU citizens have been turned away from British stations as councils failed to properly process their paperwork for the election.

Barrister Agata Patyna tweeted yesterday: “Turned away from polling station this morning. Told I should vote in my EU member state. Called local council yesterday, they confirmed I could vote. Called again today. Apparently council had no time to send out forms to all EU residents. Nothing they can do now #DeniedMyVote.”

Labour’s shadow minister for voter engagement Cat Smith said the party had “repeatedly warned” that the government’s approach to Brexit would cause “havoc for electoral administrators tasked with delivering a national poll with extremely short notice.”

The official results will not be announced until Sunday or the early hours of Monday, meaning Ms May could have a few days until she announces her resignation.

Following their meeting, Mr Brady will consult the 17 other members of the 1922 executive, amid reports they have held a secret ballot on a rule change to allow an early no-confidence vote should Ms May want to stay on.

Mr Brady said yesterday: “I think this blank denial [over resigning] from No 10 today may be a smokescreen because she does not want to influence the outcome of the European elections.”

This follows the resignation of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom on Wednesday, who said she could not put forward Ms May’s latest version of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill for a fourth vote.

She is the 36th minister to quit from Ms May’s Cabinet, with 21 of them having resigned over the PM’s chaotic Brexit strategy.

Labour Party chair Ian Lavery said after the resignation: “The Prime Minister’s authority is shot and her time is up.

“For the sake of the country, Theresa May needs to go, and we need an immediate general election.”

A fourth vote on her Brexit deal was pulled from the Commons timetable yesterday. Ms May had insisted that the vote would be tabled this month for the first week of June.

She also promised that she would step down once her thrice-rejected Withdrawal Agreement Bill is voted through by MPs.

Government whip Mark Spencer told the Commons yesterday that an update on when the Bill will be published would not be made until June 4 at the earliest.

The first week of June will also see another state visit by US President Donald Trump, Downing Street has confirmed.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said yesterday that he believed Ms May would still be PM at the time of Mr Trump’s visit.