Final UK election results emerge, Tories fail with 318 seats

Final results of the UK general election indicate that the Conservative Party of British Prime Minister Theresa May has failed to secure majority in Parliament, a failure that fuels political uncertainty just days before the start of Brexit talks.

According to the election results on Friday, with 649 out of 650 seats declared, the Conservatives won 318 seats, short of the 326 they needed for an outright majority and well down from the 330 seats they had before May's leadership. Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party managed to clinch 261 seats.

The voters put the Scottish National Party (SNP) on 35 as the third-biggest group in the new House of Commons, the Liberal Democrats on 12, and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) on 10. The pro-Brexit UK Independence Party (UKIP) failed to win a single seat.

As the two main rival parties failed to gain the 326 seats required for an absolute majority, speculations abounded that May would seek the support of Northern Ireland's DUP.

Corbyn, who was among those calling on May to resign after the election results emerged, said that British people have had enough of austerity politics and cuts in public spending, ruling out the potential for deals or pacts with other progressive parties in parliament. He also expressed readiness to serve the country in case May stepped down.

"The arguments the Conservative Party put forward in this election have lost, and we need to change," the left-wing Labour leader said. "The mandate she's got is lost Conservative seats, lost votes, lost support and lost confidence. I would have thought that's enough to go."

In the run-up to the election, the British premier spent her campaign denouncing Corbyn as a weak leader that would crash Britain's economy and flounder in Brexit talks, while praising herself on a "strong and stable leadership" to strike a good deal for Britain.

May, who had called for snap elections in the hope of increasing the Tory majority and strengthening her hand in Brexit negotiations, met the Queen on Friday and announced that she would form a minority government with the DUP to proceed with Brexit despite her party’s failure in the Thursday election.

“I have just been to see Her Majesty the Queen, and I will now form a government – a government that can provide certainty and lead Britain forward at this critical time for our country,” she said.

“Our 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 added.

British politics is in a state of disarray as London is scheduled to start talks with Brussels over its divorce from the European Union on June 19.

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