UK Election: Queen OKs May Going Coalition Route

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After calling a snap election in April in anticipation of a landslide, she ended up with an electoral train wreck, in which her Conservative Party actually lost its parliamentary majority.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker also said he hoped there would be no further delay to the negotiations "we are desperately waiting for".

Above all, investors are anxious about the general uncertainty surrounding the country - whether a bruised May will be able to govern effectively or whether she may eventually resign.

He saw his majority in Clwyd West cut by nearly half from 6,730 to 3,437.

But minority governments tend to be fragile and short-lived, and many expect that May will be a lame-duck prime minister, that she might not last as long as a year and that she will not lead her party into another election.

Mrs May said she was confident that the Tories would be able to work together with the Democratic Unionist Party in the "interests of the whole UK".

"I think there's a strong possibility that the British government and the EU will make an agreement that will be as close as possible to what is presently there in the context of the Customs Union because I think they will see the implications [of not being in it]".

In a statement to the Associated Press, Verhofstadt quipped: "I thought surrealism was a Belgian invention".

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The second phase of elections will be held next Sunday to determine the course of French Government and politics. That compared to 48 percent at the same time in the first round five years ago and 49 percent in 2002.

"What I would say is that the prime minister has my full support and I will be backing her all the way".

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Europe1 radio that Brexit talks "were never simple to begin with" and the talks "will be long and complex".

Mr Tusk tweeted on Friday morning that there was a risk Britain could be left with "no deal" if talks in Brussels were delayed by the uncertainty.

"EU did not want #Brexit, but has been prepared to negotiate it since previous year", tweeted Siegfried Muresan, spokesperson for the European Parliament's largest grouping, the center-right European People's Party (EPP).

"The standard feeling at the moment is that it probably tilts the balance of power in the talks toward the European Union, given that the United Kingdom side is not going to be particularly well organized", said Richard Youngs, a professor of global relations at the University of Warwick.

Rather than establishing clarity, this shock election result has created a kind of chaos - and yet more uncertainty in terms of reaching a reasonable deal on Brexit.

"Any long-term delay in the start of Brexit negotiations could, potentially be disastrous for Britain as potentially it could mean that negotiations breakdown or even simply running out of time due to a two-year deadline".

Before her defeat, May said she wanted to negotiate the divorce and the future trading relationship with the European Union before Britain leaves in March 2019, followed by what she calls a phased implementation process to give business time to prepare for the impact of the divorce. Which will be about whether they want a hard or a soft Brexit."Mr Brok, 71, added: "It's a bad result for the UK".

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