Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party leads United Kingdom election

In what has been described as one of the most left-wing Labour manifestos for decades, Labour has also promised to take on multinational corporations and what Corbyn has called "wealth extractors".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called on the Prime Minister to resign, saying she should "go and make way for a government that is truly representative of this country".

"A coalition is not on the cards, not just because of the 2015 result but because of big policy differences", Labour party leader said.

However, May insisted that the United Kingdom needed a period of stability as she delivered a speech following her re-election as the MP for Maidenhead.

In the event of a hung parliament - where no party wins enough seats to have a majority in the House of Commons - the two major parties, Conservatives and Labour, will try and form a coalition government with one of the smaller parties.

Earlier, Corbyn called on May "to go" but she said the country needed stability and her party would "ensure" it was maintained.

"Well, the mandate she has got is lost Conservative seats, lost votes, and lost confidence".

Sterling fell by more than two cents against the US dollar after an exit poll showed May losing her majority, though it later recovered some of its losses. A hard-fought campaign by the Scottish Conservatives (read Newsweek 's report from the campaign trail here ) means the party picked up a solid block of seats there-12 at the time of writing. He was deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015 in a coalition government with the Conservatives.

The pro-European Liberal Democrats, who have campaigned for a second European Union referendum, were projected to increase their number of seats from nine, but their former leader Nick Clegg, who was also a deputy prime minister from 2010 to 2015, lost his seat.

A total of 650 Westminster MPs will be elected, with about 45.8 million people entitled to vote. That's short of the 326 seats she needs for an overall majority.

Opponents are calling on U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May to resign after her Conservative Party lost its majority in Parliament.

Speaking Friday on Europe 1 radio, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said he doesn't believe British voters have changed their minds about leaving the bloc.

Labour took Canterbury, a seat which had been held by Conservatives since 1918.

The Green Party would be unchanged with one seat and Plaid Cymru still have three MPs in Wales, according to the poll.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said the election "has been a disaster for Theresa May", reports the BBC.

"I think it's pretty clear who won this election", he said at Labour's headquarters in central London. "I congratulate Jeremy Corbyn for running a very positive and effective campaign".

"The initial exit poll suggests it's been a catastrophic campaign for Theresa May", Craig Erlam, London-based senior market analyst at OANDA, said. Britain voted Thursday in an election that started out as an attempt. "Now that doesn't seem like it's going to happen, the knives are going to be out for her". Firstly to convert European Union law into British law and then to form new post-Brexit policy on issues like immigration and tax.

Mrs May was against Brexit before last year's referendum - but now says there can be no turning back and that "Brexit means Brexit". Her manifesto came as a shock even to many in her party, especially in its attacks on business and free markets.

He said he was "confident my party has a great future".

When the election exit poll was revealed, the pound immediately dropped by 2 percent as investors took a position that a hung parliament was a possible outcome, writes BBC's economics editor Kamal Ahmed.

The close result is a sharp reversal of the comfortable lead that the Conservatives had in April, when May called the general election.

Deals would have to be done. "So a no-deal scenario may become more likely".