Theresa May is warned she must quit within 3 weeks or Tories will face election meltdown in wake of grassroots revolt

THERESA May must quit within three weeks or see the Tories wiped out at the polls, a senior Conservative warned today.

Top Brexiteer Daniel Hannan said the party faced disaster at the Euro elections with fewer than 10 per cent of voters backing them.

He urged the PM to resign as soon as possible – or face a humiliating no-confidence vote from grassroots activists.

Next month local Tory leaders will vote on whether they want Mrs May out, the first time the radical step has happened since before Victorian times.

Mr Hannan, an MEP who held lead the Vote Leave campaign, warned that under the PM’s leadership the Tories are headed for terrible results in tomorrow’s local elections and the European polls scheduled for May 23.

He wrote for Conservative Home: “We need to ensure that Jeremy Corbyn does not trampoline from these elections to a General Election victory.

“If the Prime Minister were to announce her departure immediately after the local elections, Armageddon would be averted.

“We wouldn’t need to have a new party leader in place by May 23 – the fact of a leadership contest being underway would be enough.”

Mr Hannan added: “Rather than suffer the indignity of becoming the only Conservative leader to be no-confidenced by party members, I hope she will see that she can salvage her reputation by leaving before the European elections.”

Dozens of Tory constituency chiefs have signed a petition calling for Mrs May to resign.

There will be an extraordinary general meeting of the party in June where all local bosses will get a vote on whether they still have confidence in the PM.

The result is not binding but losing the vote would be an unprecedented embarrassment for Mrs May.

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online politics team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours