An exit poll suggested Thursday that British Prime Minister Theresa May's gamble in calling an early election has backfired spectacularly, with her Conservative Party in danger of losing its majority in Parliament.
With a hung parliament, the so-called "hard Brexit" that May had been pushing for seems less and less likely to pass.
Though the Conservatives have historically been brutally pragmatic following electoral defeats - as evinced by Prime Minister David Cameron's swift departure after last year's Brexit referendum - May has insisted that she will not resign.
The pharma sector, led by the ABPI, had been expecting to work with a strengthened Conservative party to forge a new post-Brexit industrial strategy, but this looks likely to be further de-prioritised by a weakened government.
Voters may have been unimpressed with her refrain that "no deal is better than a bad deal" because it raised the prospect of Britain crashing out of the EU bloc without a trade and immigration system to replace the existing, well-integrated procedures that have evolved over decades of European integration. Betting markets now make Jeremy Corbyn the favourite to become the next prime minister - a situation few investors had really contemplated.
EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, tweeted early Friday that negotiations should start "when the United Kingdom is ready".
"Clearly if she's got a worse result than two years ago and is nearly unable to form a government, then she, I doubt, will survive in the long term as Conservative Party leader", former Conservative Treasury chief George Osborne said on ITV. The pound lost more than 2 cents against the dollar. Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said the idea of a new independence referendum "is dead".
The Scottish National Party were the other big losers on the night, suffering a humbling loss of 21 seats-unthinkable after their previously unassailable position north of the border. Instead, her Conservative Party lost its majority and Labour claimed a haul of seats.
Pa. House approves biggest gambling expansion in years
The lottery would be prohibited from operating casino-style games online , such as poker, roulette, slot machines and blackjack. Currently, online lottery play has been allowed in a total of four USA states, including Michigan , Georgia , Kentucky and IL .
At the start of the campaign it looked as if she might pull off a landslide victory, but opinion polls showed the race tightening, and May came under criticism for running an aloof campaign that took the voters for granted.
"The arguments the Conservative Party put forward in this election have lost, and we need to change".
May is hoping to ally with the small Democratic Unionist Party in an effort to keep her current position, United Kingdom media say.
But the results of the 2017 General Election could soon force them back into the polling booths.
May spent more than half of the election campaign in Labour-held seats, demonstrating how confident she was of making gains from a Labour Party led by the most left wing leader in its history, a man the press sees as a throwback to the militant 1970s.
The result represents "an natural disaster in Labour politics", political analyst Robin Oakley told CNN. "Too many people run away from the grotesque levels of income and wealth inequality that exist in the United States, the UK and all over the world".
The politicians who've felt the wrath of voters include Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who clings to her seat by just 300 votes.
However even with the backing of the SNP, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party, Labour would still not have the numbers needed for a majority.
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