Leaving Westminster convulsed by the crisis over her leadership, May arrived in Brussels to plead with EU leaders at a summit to make the deal more palatable to skeptical lawmakers in London.
When she arrived, May said she was at the summit to speak with EU leaders about what it will take to "get this deal over the line."
EU officials have already been discussing ways of making the deal more palatable to members of the UK Parliament, who remain deeply divided over the deal reached last month. May was forced to pull a vote on the deal in the House of Commons earlier this week when it became clear she would suffer a heavy defeat.
The Prime Minister is seeking legally enforceable guarantees surrounding the Irish backstop -- the insurance policy designed to prevent the return of border infrastructure between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The backstop has emerged as the crucial sticking point for many in May's Conservative Party, furious that Britain could only leave it with the approval of the EU.
May said in Brussels she will be getting the political assurances she believes she needs "to assuage the concerns that Members of Parliament have on this issue -- (the backstop)."
"I don't expect an immediate breakthrough, but what I do hope is that we can start work as quickly as possible on the assurances that are necessary," she added.
The Prime Minister also acknowledged that both the UK and EU were planning for a no-deal Brexit.
"Now I know the EU 27 will be discussing no-deal planning, and indeed the government of the UK is discussing no-deal planning," said May.
"But I think as I've always said that the best arrangement for everybody, both the UK and the EU, is for us to agree a deal and get this deal over the line."
As part of her shuttle diplomacy, May will meet with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and European Council President Donald Tusk, before making her case to EU leaders and take questions over dinner. The 27 will then discuss separately what kind of assurances they can give May. So far, they have been united in saying that negotiations cannot be reopened on the withdrawal deal agreed between the EU and UK government last month.
While May won Wednesday's confidence vote, by 200 votes to 117, the margin of victory was significantly narrower than her supporters expected and she heads to Brussels with her authority further dented.
Speaking in Downing Street after the result was announced, May said she was "grateful" for the support, but also acknowledged that a "significant" number of MPs from her Conservative Party voted against her. "I have listened to what they said," May said, but added "we now need to get on with the job of delivering Brexit."
Conservative Brexiter Jacob Rees-Mogg, who led the rebellion against May, has urged her to resign, saying the country needs a new leader.
May also confirmed on Thursday that she would not lead her party into the next general election.
"I said in my heart I would love to be able to lead the Conservative Party into the next general election," she said, adding: "but I think it is right that the Party feels it would prefer to go into that election with a new leader."
Backstop challenge
The size of Wednesday's rebellion underscored the daunting task faced by the Prime Minister if she is to secure approval in a divided House of Commons for her Brexit deal.
Hardcore Brexiters' opposition to the Brexit deal has crystallized around the Northern Ireland backstop.
But Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay insisted in an interview with the BBC's Radio 4 on Thursday that any alternative deal to the one negotiated by May would also require a backstop on Northern Ireland.
"We're clear that we need to listen to colleagues on the backstop, that is the point that the Prime Minister will be making in Brussels today, but parliament also needs to focus on the fact that all the other deals, the Canadas, the Norways, Norway-plus options, all require a backstop.
"And there's a very good reason why they require a backstop, because of our commitment to ensuring there is no hard border in Ireland, our commitment to the peace process, those are very sincere commitments that we need to honor," he told the program.
He added that there was recognition both on the UK government's side and the EU side that the backstop is a "concern" but that both sides want a deal.
Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd also rallied behind May, saying: "She's got the support of the party behind her. And I wish her every success today in making sure she delivers on some of the questions my colleagues have had about the backstop."
Europeans hold firm
There is little sign that EU leaders will make any concessions on the deal substantial enough to win over her critics at home.
Tusk said Wednesday his "intention is that we will listen to the UK Prime Minister's assessment" but added that "as time is running out, we will also discuss the state of preparations for a no-deal scenario."
In an interview Thursday, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said he was relieved May was staying in office "because at least this has averted total chaos."
But asked about the backstop, Maas said it was "already a concession, as it has been agreed. What the British now want is for it to be limited in time or for it to be unilaterally terminable by the British. That is a point which I find very difficult to imagine meeting with approval in the member states of the European Union."
Members of Germany's governing Christian Democratic Union party who debated Brexit in the Bundestag on Thursday struck a similar note. Senior CDU member Katja Leikert described the UK as a country in crisis, with London gripped by political chaos.
She reiterated that there could be no renegotiation and said the agreement "was the limit of what the EU could allow" -- especially the backstop. "The ball is in London's court," she said. "The EU has negotiated a major agreement with over 580 pages. It is a fair and sensible deal."
Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's Brexit coordinator, called for cross-party cooperation in the UK to resolve the crisis, saying that "while the Brexit deal is far from certain, one thing is clear: even in the Tory party, there is no majority for no deal or hard Brexit."
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