What Exactly Is A Hung Parliament?

Instead of opting for a post-election shuffle, the Prime Minister retained key figures in her cabinet. The Telegraph said senior Conservatives including Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, interior minister Amber Rudd and Brexit minister David Davis were taking soundings over whether to replace her. We haven't won but Tories have been humiliatingly defeated. Well, May is going to attempt to form an agreement with the 10 MPs that were elected from the Democratic Unionist Party, or DUP.

Labour's leftwing leader Jeremy Corbyn, once written off by his opponents as a no-hoper, said May should step down and that he wanted to form a minority government. "They want to send this country back 50 years but I want us to go forward into the future not backwards".

Some youths may also have taken revenge on their parents and grandparents for supporting Brexit - support for leaving the European Union was much higher among older generations in the referendum a year ago on whether Britain should leave the EU.

Diplomatic veterans say the Brexit process is as titanic in scale as it is historically unprecedented.

May called for the election last April, saying she hoped to expand her parliamentary majority. May on Friday scheduled an early weekend meeting of her governing circle in an apparent bid to reassert authority and project stability. It was a gutsy move, but the opposition Labour Party seemed in such disarray that the risk appeared manageable.

Her party colleagues are furious at the losses chalked up, blaming Mrs May for calling an unnecessary election three years ahead of time, for running a disastrous campaign centred on her and her "strong and stable leadership", and for an unpopular manifesto that was designed by her inner circle.

After noon, May was driven from her official Downing Street residence to Buckingham Palace to ask Queen Elizabeth for permission to form a government - a formality under the British system.

It is too early to say with any certainty what the change from a majority to minority government will mean to Brexit.

Conservative lawmaker Nicky Morgan told ITV that she could support a confidence and supply arrangement with the DUP, but any closer deal would be "a step too far".

Since any deal is not expected to involve a formal coalition, such talks may not hold up the formation of government.

May also reappointed an old adversary - Michael Gove, a former rival for the Conservative leadership whom May fired from the Cabinet when she took office previous year.

"Do your best to avoid a "no deal" as result of "no negotiations", Donald Tusk, leader of the EU's ruling council, wrote in a tweet.

With the Conservatives failing to win an outright majority, Mr Corbyn yesterday declared that Labour was "ready to serve this country" and repeated his call for Mrs May to stand down.

The Scottish National Party will work to forge an alliance to keep Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives out of power, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said.

As of Friday afternoon, with one constituency yet to declare, the Conservatives remain the largest party with 318 seats, having lost 12 seats, and Labour with 261 seats. Speaking after the outcome became clear, May acknowledged that the result was a disappointment.

Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said it is not even clear whether May will now lead those negotiations.

So she flung the dice - and lost.

"We need a government that can act", EU Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk. May was now likely to be a "weak" negotiating partner, which could also be bad for Europe.

But there was little sympathy from some other Europeans.

Mrs May's predecessor David Cameron sought to silence eurosceptic fellow Conservatives by calling the referendum on European Union membership.