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

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.

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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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How much in donations each party received ahead of the electionThe Tories raised more than £10m in donations last month, more than double the amount Labour took over the period and 200 times more than the Greens.

Lizzie Dearden8 June 2017 20:49

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Hundreds of students were turned away to vote in a key Labour marginal. Now there's more chaosStudents and other young people are being urged to go back to vote, after being turned away. Voters in Newcastle-under-Lyme arrived to vote but were told they weren't on the register, because an old one is now being used. The problems are especially significant because the constituency is the home of Keele University, and is a key marginal seat for Labour, which hopes to gain votes from students.

Samuel Osborne8 June 2017 21:27

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Relive the worst gaffes of the General Election campaignEvery election campaign has its fair share of gaffes for the voters to rue or enjoy. Considering how this year’s election was sprung upon the public and political parties, it’s no surprise the 2017 edition has plenty to look back on. As parties scrabbled together their manifestos and policies rather hastily, scrutiny was inevitably placed on how each idea would be funded. Step forward excruciating interviews with Jeremy Corbyn on BBC’s Woman’s Hour and Diane Abbott on LBC.

Samuel Osborne8 June 2017 21:34

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Samuel Osborne8 June 2017 21:34

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All you ever wanted to know about British election exit pollsNational exit polls have been used to predict the results of British general elections for forty years. In the October 1974 election, the BBC commissioned Louis Harris to conduct their exit poll and ITN used ORC. In 1979, ITN persisted with ORC but the BBC abandoned an exit poll in favour of a “poll of polls” which they used to predict the result. In both 1983 and 1987, BBC seat prediction was based on a national opinion poll conducted by Gallup.

Samuel Osborne8 June 2017 21:47

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10 minute warning - the exit poll will be published at 10pm. 

You still have 10 minutes to vote!

Kristin Hugo8 June 2017 21:48

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Quick reminder that you will still be able to vote after 10pm if you are in the queue outside the polling booth.

Samuel Osborne8 June 2017 21:50

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Thousands of voters in last minute rush to find out key policiesSearches are surging for the Conservative manifesto – just as polls close. Throughout the election period, searches for "Labour manifesto" have been beating "Conservative manifesto". But in the hours leading up the election, tens of thousands of people have rushed to search for the phrase "Conservative manifesto 2017", according to Google. It isn't clear why people were searching for the phrase, or why they surged in the last moments. But it and related searches were among the top trending searches in the minutes before polls closed.

Samuel Osborne8 June 2017 21:52

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Five minutes left to go...

Samuel Osborne8 June 2017 21:55

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Samuel Osborne8 June 2017 21:57

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