ENOUGH Tory MPs have requested a vote of no confidence in Theresa May to trigger a contest, the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee has announced.

Sir Graham Brady said the threshold of 48 letters - 15 per cent of the parliamentary party - needed to trigger a vote has been reached and a ballot will be held between 6pm and 8pm on Wednesday evening in the House of Commons.

"The votes will be counted immediately afterwards and an announcement will be made as soon as possible in the evening," he said.

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said he would be making no comment given his position as an officer of the 1922 Committee.

Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson said: "I will support the Prime Minister tonight.

"A leadership contest is a distraction and doesn’t change the maths in Parliament. We should be focused on delivering on the British people’s decision to leave the EU."

The announcement followed reports of a wave of new letters amid anger at the way Mrs May dramatically put on hold the crunch Commons vote on her Brexit deal after admitting she was heading for a heavy defeat.

Pendle Council leader, Cllr Paul White, said the Prime Minister retained the support of the public.

"From speaking to people, they admire the grit and determination that she has shown," he said. 

"Whether people think she's doing the right thing or not, they do respect her resilience."

Northern Powerhouse minister and Rossendale and Darwen MP, Jake Berry, added: "People in the NorthernPowerhouse back Theresa May and so do I.

"I am 100 per cent behind the Prime Minister."

Earlier, unconfirmed reports suggested Sir Graham had asked to meet Mrs May after Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday afternoon.

Former cabinet minister Owen Paterson was the latest MP to declare he had submitted a letter to the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee.

Speculation that a challenge could be imminent was fuelled after chief whip Julian Smith and Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis were seen leaving No 10 following late-night consultations on Tuesday.

In a joint statement, the chairman of the European Research Group of eurosceptic Tory backbenchers Jacob Rees-Mogg and his deputy Steve Baker said: "Theresa May's plan would bring down the Government if carried forward. But our party will rightly not tolerate it.

"Conservatives must now answer whether they wish to draw ever closer to an election under Mrs May's leadership. In the national interest, she must go."

In his letter, published in The Daily Telegraph, Mr Paterson said Mrs May's conduct of the Brexit negotiations had "eroded trust in the Government, to the point where I and many others can no longer take the Prime Minister at her word".

The former Northern Ireland secretary and prominent Brexiteer said she had become a "blockage" to an agreement which Parliament and the country could support.

"She has repeatedly said 'no deal is better than a bad deal', but it is clear her objective was to secure a deal at any cost," he wrote.