Sterling falls after May seen falling short of majority

The exit poll predicted the Conservatives would win 314 seats in the 650-member parliament and the opposition Labour Party 266, meaning no clear victor and a "hung parliament".

Michael Hewson, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets, said: "If this poll is even close to being accurate it is hard to see how Theresa May can survive as Conservative party leader let alone Prime Minister".

Labour has said it would push ahead with Brexit but would scrap May's negotiating plans and make its priority maintaining the benefits of both the EU single market and its customs union, arguing no deal with the EU would be the worst possible outcome.

But other arrangements short of a coalition could involve a "supply and confidence" agreement under which smaller parties would pledge to back the Government's budget and programme without taking up ministerial positions in the new administration. She argued that increasing the Conservative majority in Parliament would strengthen Britain's hand in Brexit talks.

While both seats were strongholds for the Opposition and were predicted to go to the Labour party, it was the strong vote share of the party which indicated a swing away from the Tories towards the Labour in the overall poll. Scotland's First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon speaks while on the last day of campaigning for the General Election during an event at the Malmaison Hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland, Wednesday, June 7, 2017.

That means the United Kingdom currency is back to trading around levels before April 18, the day Prime Minister Theresa May called the snap election in a bid to strengthen her Brexit mandate.

What happens if no party wins the majority of the seats in the General Election?

With the party in a position to hold the balance of power at Westminster, senior MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the DUP would be "serious players" in the hung parliament, telling the BBC: "This is ideal territory for the DUP because obviously if the Conservatives are just short of an overall majority it puts us in a very strong negotiating position and certainly that is one we would take up with relish".

It projects 34 for the Scottish National Party and 14 for the Liberal Democrats.

A number of polls gave May and her party a 20-point lead when she called the election. Two weeks earlier, a suicide bomber killed 22 people as they were leaving a concert in Manchester, and five people died during a vehicle and knife attack near Parliament on March 22.

Still, May will face immediate demands from her own team to change the way she runs the government, according to Tory ministers, candidates and party officials, who asked not to named discussing internal affairs.

"But, in a sign that a Conservative landslide is a distant prospect, Labour held onto Darlington, a seat in northeast England that May had hoped to win if she were on course for a convincing majority", she added. "It was very scary on Saturday".

Labour seized on radical cuts in police numbers implemented as part of a Conservative austerity programme, although May insisted that she had protected funding for counter-terrorism.

“I can only build that better country and get the right deal in Brussels with the support of the British people, ” she said.

While security was on many voters minds, it was far from the only issue.