UK Elections 2017: Theresa May to form fragile govt, uncertainty over Brexit

Britains Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip are clapped into number 10 Downing Street by the staff after her visit with Britains Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace where she was requested to form a new government in central London on Friday PicAFPBritish Prime Minister Theresa May will form a government supported by a small Northern Irish party after her Conservative Party lost its parliamentary majority in an election debacle days before talks on Britains EU departure are due to beginA stonyfaced May speaking on the doorstep of her official Downing Street residence said the government would provide certainty and lead Britain in talks with the European Union to secure a successful Brexit dealMay said she could rely in parliament on the support of her friends in Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party after her governing Conservatives failed to emerge as clear winnersConfident of securing a sweeping victory May had called the snap election to strengthen her hand in the European Union divorce talksBut in one of the most sensational nights in British electoral history a resurgent Labour Party denied her an outright win throwing the country into political turmoilEU leaders expressed fears that Mays shock loss of her majority would delay the Brexit talks due to begin on June 19 and so raise the risk of negotiations failingHer Labour rival Jeremy Corbyn once written off by his opponents as a nohoper said May should step down and he wanted to form a minority governmentBut May facing scorn for running a lacklustre campaign was determined to hang on Just after noon she was driven the short distance from Downing Street to Buckingham Palace to ask Queen Elizabeth for permission to form a government a formality under the British systemWith 649 of 650 seats declared the Conservatives had won 318 seats and Labour 261 followed by the proindependence Scottish National Party on 34The shock result thrust Northern Irelands centreright DUP into the role of kingmaker with its 10 seats enough to give the Conservatives a fragile but workable partnershipOur two parties have enjoyed a strong relationship over many years and this gives me the confidence to believe that we will be able to work together in the interests of the whole United Kingdom May saidThis was likely to involve an arrangement in which the DUP would support a Conservative minority government on key votes in parliament but not form a formal coalitionBut with the complex talks on the divorce from the EU due to start in 10 days it was unclear what their direction would now be and if the socalled Hard Brexit taking Britain out of a single market could still be pursuedAfter winning his own seat in north London Corbyn said Mays attempt to win a bigger mandate had backfiredThe mandate shes got is lost Conservative seats lost votes lost support and lost confidence he saidI would have thought thats enough to go actually and make way for a government that will be truly representative of all of the people of this countryBREXIT RISKSWe need a government that can act EU Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told German broadcaster DeutschlandfunkWith a weak negotiating partner theres a danger that the Brexit negotiations will turn out badly for both sidesThe EUs chief negotiator said the blocs stance on Brexit and the timetable for the talks were clear but the divorce negotiations should only start when Britain is ready Lets put our minds together on striking a deal Michel Barnier said