Election 2017 live updates: Theresa May claims Conservative government supported by DUP will provide 'certainty'

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Theresa May has said she will form a Conservative government backed by the DUP, claiming it can bring "certainty" to the UK.

After visiting the Queen, the Prime Minister claimed there was a "strong relationship" between the two parties, amid concern over the DUP's controversial anti-abortion and anti-LGBT policies.

The PM has also apologised to Conservatives who lost last night. She said: "I'm sorry for all those colleagues who lost their seats." She will "reflect on what we need to do in the future to take the party forward" after the result, she added.

The UK voted for a hung parliament after shock losses for the Conservatives in the 2017 general election. With 649 of 650 seats declared, the Tories had 318 seats - eight short of the figure needed to win outright - with Labour on 261, the SNP on 35 and Liberal Democrats on 12.

Jeremy Corbyn's party increase its share of the vote by 9.6 per cent, while the Tories were up 5.5 per cent, the Liberal Democrats, Greens and SNP saw small loses and Ukip's vote collapsed.

The live blog has now ended

Politicians, voters, and even their pets have been heading to polling stations and are posing for the cameras at every opportunity.

The Prime Minister has made clear that she would rely on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party in order to get her programme through Parliament, despite concern over its stance on issues including equal marriage, abortion and climate change.

Making no allusion to losses suffered by the Conservatives, Ms May said she intended to press ahead with her plans for Brexit.

She faced calls from within her own party to consider her own position after the election, which she brought forward by three years in the hope it would deliver an increased majority in the Commons.

Jeremy Corbyn urged her to resign and allow him to form a minority administration, declaring: “We are ready to serve this country.”

But, after intensive talks with the DUP, the Prime Minister instead drove the short distance to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen for permission to form a new government.

The final election results came in late on Friday, after Kensington finally declared a Labour win — with a tiny 20-vote majority. They were:

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Re-posting this one from earlier today.

David Davis appears to concede that the Tories have lost their mandate to leave the single market and customs union

The clock is ticking to secure successful Brexit, EU tells MayTheresa May has been warned by EU officials that the clock is ticking on Brexit negotiations, while others openly mocked her for “yet another own goal” following the calamitous result for the Conservatives at the general election.  “I thought surrealism was a Belgian invention,” said Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit negotiator, as he responded to the result that left Britain with a hung parliament. 

Lizzie Dearden9 June 2017 18:20

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This will undoubtedly go down well with the electorate

Lizzie Dearden9 June 2017 18:25

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A reference for the 90s kids here

Lizzie Dearden9 June 2017 18:30

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The dark mystery of who funded the DUP's six figure Brexit campaignIt is a strange tale involving Theresa May’s new “friends” in the Democratic Unionist Party, the Brexit referendum campaign and a mysterious donation of £425,000. And, while those involved have refused to reveal more than a few details, there has been allegedly “fanciful” talk of “an arms drop in India” and the involvement of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi intelligence.

Lizzie Dearden9 June 2017 18:35

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This is what a Tory-DUP government could mean for educationThe DUP is very much pro-grammars, and schools in Northern Ireland are intrinsically selective - with a structure that’s closer to the pre-Blair system that was long the standard in the rest of the UK. But the Conservative Party is left in such a weak position that even if they form a government with the DUP, ministers will in no way be able to push forward with the much contested selective school proposals outlaid in their election manifesto.

Lizzie Dearden9 June 2017 18:40

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Britain's shock election result has cast the special relationship into serious doubtUp and down the avenues of New York City, billboards on bus stops and hotspot stations billboards implore its denizens to cross the Atlantic for their holidays with pictures of favourite destinations like Edinburgh Castle always with the recurring slogan about Britain being GREAT. 

Lizzie Dearden9 June 2017 18:50

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Brexit Minister David Jones has said he supports Theresa May but that it is “impossible to say” if she would still be Prime Minister in six months' time.

Asked if Ms May would still be in Downing Street at the end of the year, Mr Jones told BBC Wales: “That's impossible for me to say, and is probably impossible for anyone else to say too.”

Pressed on how long she would stay PM, Mr Jones said: “That remains to be seen.”

PA

Lizzie Dearden9 June 2017 19:00

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Forget the social media bubble – we made sure our voices were heard at this general electionThe IndependentFollowing the EU referendum outcome last year, Remain voters – those in London particularly – were confronted by the shortcomings of having political conversations online. This “bubble,” especially the case with Facebook, was a joyous place to canvas – it seemed every person you talked to shared your point of view.  And so, last night, Labour voters were anxious that the so-called “echo chamber” of political conversation would have us duped once more.

Lizzie Dearden9 June 2017 19:10

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Jeremy Corbyn was 2,227 votes away from becoming Prime MinisterJeremy Corbyn was just 2,227 votes away from having the chance to become Prime Minister in the general election, an analysis of marginal seats has revealed. If the Labour leader had won seven seats narrowly taken by the Conservatives, he would have had the opportunity to form a “progressive alliance” with all other smaller parties, barring the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

Lizzie Dearden9 June 2017 19:22

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Former Northern Ireland peace negotiator Jonathan Powell (Sky News) 

Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's former chief of staff and a Northern Ireland peace negotiator, has spoken out against Theresa May's plans to govern with the help of the DUP.

He told Sky News: “I spent 10 years doing the Northern Ireland peace negotiations and I really would appeal to the Government not to go down this path.

“Since 1991, when a Tory Secretary of State for Northern Ireland said that Britain would be neutral in Northern Ireland — not take the side of the unionists, not take the side of the nationalists, that we had no strategic selfish interest in Northern Ireland — we now find ourselves taking sides.

“How on Earth are we going to mediate between the unionists and the nationalists when we're trying to establish government? We have a political crisis there. Do you really want to make the political crisis worse just so the Government can stagger on?

“Even John Major at his weakest, when he was really struggling in the House of Commons, did not go into an alliance with the DUP because he did not want to be depending on the DUP and finding himself unable to be even-handed in Northern Ireland.

“We will not be seen as even-handed if we find ourselves in coalition or in support of the DUP, or 'our friends in the DUP', as Prime Minister May has put it.”

Lizzie Dearden9 June 2017 19:29

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