Another bites the dust: Ahead of no-confidence motion, Theresa May says won't fight next polls

British Prime Minister Theresa May has told lawmakers in the ruling Conservative party that she will not lead them into the next general election, one Member of Parliament said.

May was speaking ahead of a vote of no confidence in her that is due to begin at 1800 GMT. Voting is expected to take about two hours, with the result expected around 2100 GMT. 

However, May vowed on Wednesday to fight a challenge to her leadership of the Conservative Party, saying a change now would delay or even imperil Britain's planned divorce from the European Union.

With less than four months left until the United Kingdom is due to exit on March 29, Brexit has been thrown up in the air by the failure of May's divorce deal among British lawmakers and a mutiny inside her party.

Speaking outside her Downing Street residence just over an hour after a confidence vote in her leadership was announced, May said she would fight for her job with everything she has got.

In a stark warning to Brexit-supporting opponents in her party, May said that if they toppled her then Brexit would have to be delayed and perhaps even stopped.

"A new leader wouldn't be in place by the Jan. 21 legal deadlines, so a leadership election risks handing control of the Brexit negotiations to opposition MPs in Parliament," May said.

"A new leader wouldn't have time to renegotiate a withdrawal agreement and get the legislation through Parliament by March 29. So one of their first acts would have to be extending or rescinding Article 50, delaying or even stopping Brexit when people want us to get on with it," she said.