British Prime Minister Theresa May breaks down as she announces her resignation

British Prime Minister Theresa May has announced her resignation, declaring she will stand down as Conservative leader on June 7. 

"I've done my best," she said in an emotional statement. "I have done everything I can to convince MPs to back that deal... sadly I have not been able to do so.

"It is and will always remain a matter of deep regret to me that I have not been able to deliver Brexit."

She admitted it was time for someone else to try and deliver Brexit, as her husband Philip watched on the steps of Downing Street, triggering a contest for the next leader. 

May broke down as she read the last rites on her premiership following a meeting with Tory backbench cheif Sir Graham Brady. 

It had been expected that the embattled leader would announce the date of her departure on Friday morning (local time). 

May, once a reluctant supporter of EU membership, who won the top job in the turmoil that followed the 2016 Brexit vote, stepped down with her central pledges - to lead the United Kingdom out of the bloc and heal its divisions - unfulfilled.

She endured repeated crises and humiliation in her effort to find a compromise Brexit deal that parliament could ratify, and bequeaths a deeply divided country and a political elite that is deadlocked over how, when or whether to leave the EU.

Newshub.