Premiership of Theresa May

Official portrait, 2016
Premiership of Theresa May 13 July 2016 – 24 July 2019
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Cabinet	First May ministry Second May ministry
Party	Conservative
Election	2017
Seat	10 Downing Street
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Coat of Arms of HM Government
Official website

This article is part of a series about Theresa May
Political positions Electoral history MP for Maidenhead One-nation conservatism Home Secretary Tenure as Home Secretary Hostile Environment Policy National Crime Agency Snooper's Charter 2016 leadership election Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Premiership International trips First ministry and term (July 2016 – June 2017) First ministry (majority) Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt's tenure as Health Secretary Brexit Invocation of Article 50 Aftermath of Brexit 2017 local elections 2017 general election Second ministry and term (June 2017 – July 2019) Second ministry (minority) Conservative–DUP agreement List of departures 2018 reshuffle Chequers Agreement Grenfell Tower fire Running through fields of wheat "Strong and stable" "Brexit means Brexit" Salisbury poisonings EU Withdrawal Agreement House of Commons vote of confidence 2019 leadership election Resignation Honours Bibliography The Abuse of Power
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Theresa May's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 13 July 2016 when she accepted an invitation of Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding David Cameron, and ended on 24 July 2019 upon her resignation. May's premiership was dominated by Brexit, terrorist attacks in Westminster, the Manchester Arena and London Bridge, the Grenfell Tower fire, and the Salisbury poisonings. As prime minister, May also served simultaneously as First Lord of the Treasury, and as Minister for the Civil Service. She also served as Leader of the Conservative Party.

May was elected unopposed after her opponent, Andrea Leadsom, withdrew from the final round of the 2016 leadership election; May became Conservative leader on 11 July 2016, and she became prime minister two days later. She began the process of withdrawing the UK from the European Union, triggering Article 50 in March 2017. The following month, she announced a snap general election, with the aims of strengthening her hand in Brexit negotiations and highlighting her "strong and stable" leadership. This resulted in a hung parliament in which the number of Conservative seats had fallen from 330 to 317, despite the party winning its highest vote share since 1983. The loss of an overall majority prompted her to enter a confidence and supply arrangement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland to support a minority government.

May carried out the Brexit negotiations with the European Union, adhering to the Chequers Plan, which resulted in her draft Brexit withdrawal agreement. She also announced a £20 billion increase in funding to the National Health Service through the NHS Long Term Plan, established the first-ever Race Disparity Audit and launched a 25 Year Environment Plan, amending the Climate Change Act 2008 to end the UK's contribution to global warming by 2050. Unemployment in the United Kingdom fell to record lows, the lowest jobless rate since 1975. Her government also passed legislation cracking down on knife crime and giving extra powers to law enforcement and intelligence services to combat terrorism, published the 2017 Industrial Strategy White Paper^[1] and signed an immigration treaty with France to stem illegal border crossings in January 2018.^[2]

Although May did not succeed in getting much of her Brexit legislation through Parliament, her government was nevertheless responsible for passing the Great Repeal Act and for negotiating and approving the near-entirety of the UK's terms of exit from the EU.^[3] Three budgets were passed during her tenure: the first in March 2017, the second in November 2017 and the third and final in October 2018. May was also a prominent figure in leading the international condemnation and response to Russia over the Salisbury poisonings of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in March 2018. May survived two votes of no confidence in December 2018 and January 2019, but after versions of her draft withdrawal agreement were rejected by Parliament three times and her party's poor performance in the May 2019 European Parliament election, she left office on 24 July and was succeeded by Boris Johnson, her former Foreign Secretary. May is viewed unfavourably in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers.