A look at the impacts of a hung parliament

After repeatedly ruling out calling a snap election, she went to the country in the hope her party would secure a larger majority ahead of Brexit negotiations.

The Labour Party will look to oust Theresa May and the Conservatives and form a minority government despite finishing second in Thursday's election, party officials said Friday. "Everybody knows what they are and everyone can see the huge increase in our support because of the way we conducted the election and the comprehensive nature of the programme we put forward". Should she form a government, it is likely that the opposition could win concessions over the Brexit process by ruling out her "walking away" from a "bad deal"; insisting on a second referendum on the final deal; and preventing the passage of the "Great Reform Bill" which is meant to place all European Union legislation under the United Kingdom statute book and then winnow it out at leisure.

Where the center-right Conservatives had hoped to take seats from the main opposition Labour Party, the reverse happened.

The European Union's budget commissioner, Guenther Oettinger, said Brexit talks will likely be delayed, and told Germany's Deutschlandfunk that a "weak" British negotiating partner was "bad" for talks.

May, who went into the election with a reputation for quiet competence, was criticized for a lackluster campaigning style and for a plan to force elderly people to pay more for their care, a proposal her opponents dubbed the "dementia tax".

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said Labour "could form the next government" and would attempt to do so as a minority government if results allowed, rather than seeking to form a coalition with other progressive parties like the Lib Dems. "So let's not kid ourselves", he said on Europe 1 radio.

With 649 of 650 seats declared, the Conservatives had won 318 seats and Labour 261.

The election result is a complete turnaround from what the polls were suggesting about Conservatives early in the campaign. Among the casualties was Alex Salmond, a former first minister of Scotland and one of the party's highest-profile lawmakers.

According to Politics Home, Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, doesn't believe the future of the Conservative Party lies with Theresa May. However, the Prime Minister finds herself in a soup as the election has delivered a hung parliament, with the Conservatives forecast to lose at least 12 seats.

Although her party blames her for the catastrophe, May will be under pressure to stay on as prime minister to form a government, probably with the support of the Democratic Unionist Party's 10 new MPs.

"My only plea would be to all MPs. from all parties, is this: that we will not pick our way through the very hard times that our country faces if in the next parliament MPs of all parties simply seek to amplify what divides them".

Liberal Democrats were celebrating the return of former ministers Sir Vince Cable, Sir Ed Davey and Jo Swinson two years after they lost their parliamentary seats.

While the Tories licked their wounds elsewhere, it was, on balance a good night for the party north of the border.

Jeremy Corbyn, right, gestures toward Labour's Emily Thornberry after arriving for the declaration at his constituency in London.

She is regarded as having performed well during the campaign, which was marred by deadly attacks in Manchester and London.