LONDON – British Prime Minister Theresa May survived a no-confidence vote Wednesday called by members of her ruling Conservative Party who threatened to oust her from power and derail her Brexit deal to leave the European Union.

May's victory increases the likelihood of an orderly British exit from the EU in March next year, although she still needs to get the deal approved by Parliament. May delayed a parliamentary vote on the agreement this week because it was unlikely to pass. And that reality has not changed after the party vote.

May acknowledged in a short statement after the vote that a "significant number of colleagues voted against me," but she was adamant that "we need to get on with the job of delivering Brexit." She said it was now time for lawmakers to "bring the country back together and build a country that truly works for everyone."

May won the support of 200 of her fellow Conservative lawmakers; 117 voted against her. She needed at least 159 votes to ensure survival. Under Britain's parliamentary rules, her own party is not allowed to challenge her leadership for a full year.

The ballot was held in secret.

A no-confidence vote on her leadership was triggered after 48 lawmakers from May's party wrote to an influential parliamentary committee calling for her to step aside amid discontent from lawmakers who said the deal she negotiated with the EU does not go far enough to disentangle Britain's economic and political ties to the 28-nation bloc.

Among the concerns: an unresolved question over the land border between Northern Ireland (part of Britain) and Ireland (part of the EU). Decades of peace between Northern Ireland’s Irish Catholic community and its British Protestant one have been facilitated by the free trade and travel across that border that EU membership allows.

May has been prime minister since shortly after Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016. In Britain, a political party is elected to government, not an individual, meaning if May had lost Wednesday's vote her party would have chosen a new leader without calling an election.

More:Britain's Brexit chaos: Vote on May's deal on hold; future is fuzzy

Earlier Wednesday outside her official residence on Downing Street in central London, May said she would “contest that vote with everything that I’ve got.” She warned that if she was forced to step down, Brexit could be delayed or even stopped altogether. “I stand ready to finish the job,” May vowed. She hinted that whatever the outcome of the vote, she may step down before the next scheduled election in 2022.

There was no obvious choice to replace May if she had lost the vote. Among the names favored by British bookmakers were Dominic Raab, who resigned as Britain’s top Brexit official last month; Sajid Javid, a former banker serving as interior minister; and Boris Johnson, a tousle-haired, American-born former journalist and ex-secretary of state for foreign affairs under May before he quit over her Brexit stance.

Johnson was the only contender who was well-known to President Donald Trump. Trump has called Johnson, London's former mayor, a "very talented guy" for whom he has "a lot of respect" and who has "what it takes" to be a "great prime minister."

By contrast, May and Trump have had an awkward relationship that strained a historic "special" alliance that stretches back decades. Trump criticized May's Brexit plan, and May publicly disagreed with Trump on a range of geopolitical issues, from his withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal to his immigration policies.

From the archives: USA TODAY's interview with Boris Johnson

Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29 next year.

May is due to travel to Brussels on Thursday for a political summit to ask EU leaders to alter aspects of the deal related to the Irish border, a move that could help appease some of her critics. EU officials have said the deal can't be renegotiated.