This will give May a clear mandate though knowing that her support only runs so deep with voters and that they aren't happy with the way she has run her government to date or they would have their majority by now ...

 

I can't find if Sturgeon won a seat ????? Can you ???

 

What is a hung parliament?
When no party gets enough seats in the House of Commons to form a majority Government the result is described as a hung parliament.

Parties must get more than 326 MPs in order to have a majority.

If nobody does, someone has to try and form a stable Government and this can ultimately mean the party which technically comes second in the election can form a ruling body instead.

What happens next?
The incumbent Government - the last one before the election - stays in Number 10 until a new Government can be formed.

Theresa May will not move out and talks will begin to see if the Conservatives can find enough support from other parties to rule.

So does Theresa May get the first shot at forming a coalition?
Yes. Although it doesn't mean she will definitely be the next Prime Minister. If the Conservatives get close to the magic 326 number on their own they may be able to borrow support from the DUP, a party which tends to vote with them anyway.

Talks will begin to try and see who can make a deal work. One of the two parties with a realistic chance - the Conservatives or Labour - could also choose to govern as a minority and find support from other MPs as and when they need to get a vote through parliament.

This is much harder than governing with a majority, even a small one.

What happens if she fails?
If Theresa May can't get the numbers it will be Labour's chance to try and do the same unless the Tories want to try their luck with a minority.


She will be expected to resign.

Labour could borrow support from other parties, although the Lib Dems have ruled this out and Jeremy Corbyn vowed not to work with the Scottish Nationals.

Do the voters get a say?
No. Once the general election has taken place and no overall decision has been made it's up to the parties to make the best of it as the Conservatives and the Lib Dems did in 2010.

How long does it take?
There is no time limit to agree a new Government. In 2010 it took five days, although many people thought this was too quick and important details were missed, leading to problems further down the line.

Either way neither of the parties will want to take too long about it because the Brexit negotiations begin 11 days after polling day.

And Parliament will meet again on the 13 June, so someone has to have come up with a solution by then. Mrs May has the option of waiting until this date to see if she has the confidence of the Commons too.

A Queen's Speech must be presented by 19 June, either by Mrs May or Mr Corbyn. Parliament must vote the speech through so this is the key test for a new Government.

Does the Queen have a say?
No, the Queen doesn't get involved in politics at all. But there are suggestions she may not deliver the speech if she is not sure it will be voted through Parliament.

Could there be another election?
Possibly. If the Conservatives form a minority Government the Prime Minister could seek another election later in the year. This is what Ted Heath did in 1974 when he won a majority the second time around, but it is a risk.

If MPs table a no-confidence motion in the sitting Government a new election could be triggered as long as the opposition also couldn't form a Government.

This is where it all gets a bit complicated though. If there is a no-confidence motion in Theresa May she could hand the leadership of her party to a colleague, who could seek to form a Government.

If they can't, power could be handed to Labour but this would be uncharted territory because it means the governing party would change without an election. This would be unprecedented.

 

I don't think Sturgeon is running for UK parliament. She's a member (and First Minister) of the Scottish Parliament.

 

36 seat lead now and the Labour party will be lucky to come close to the forecast finish of 261 BUT the Conservatives might just get their majority by the way they are gaining ???

Doubtful though with only around 70 more ridings to report ...

 

I love newspapers.Always have. Always will.
`

 

Theresa May is facing a mounting backlash over her "catastrophic" election campaign after an exit poll suggested that her snap election gamble had failed to pay off.

The Conservatives are set to be the largest party but without an overall majority according a joint BBC/Sky/ITV exit poll, which indicated the Tories will win 314 seats and Labour 266.

The poll suggest Britain is heading for a hung parliament, with Conservatives 12 seats short of the 326 they need for an absolute majority in the Commons.

Theresa May wins in Maidenhead - speech in full 03:21

Accepting victory in her constituency of Maidenhead, Theresa May said that if Conservatives had won the most seats and most votes, "it will be incumbent on us to ensure that we have that period of stability, and that is what we will do".


Senior Conservatives said this morning that she had made "fundamental strategic errors" and said that her closest aides should be "banished" from Downing Street.

They complained that the campaign had been centred around a "cult of personality" and "central control", adding: "It has completely blown up in our face".

One senior Tory told The Telegraph: "This is bad, it's worse than bad. Her advisers should walk out of the door now never to return, regardless of the final result.

They should be banished forever. "Can she hang on? She [Theresa] has zero credibility if this exit poll is correct.

"The very best we can get tonight is to end up where we were. The cult of personality and central control has completely blown up in our face."


George Osborne, the former Chancellor who was sacked by Mrs May, said that if the exit poll is accurate she would not survive.

He said:"I worked very well with Theresa May and I think she has intelligence and integrity. "Clearly if she’s got a worse result than two years ago and is almost unable to form a government then she I doubt will survive in the long term as Conservative party leader."

A number of senior Tories have lost their seats this morning including Cabinet Office minister Ben Gummer on a 4.65 per cent swing in Ipswich.

 

Thanks JTP this was just a damn good read

 

It is pretty much official with less than 40 ridings to report and short of the Conservatives taking 95% of them they WILL NOT get their majority

 

They could still get a majority coalition with the Democratic Unionists. They're kinda iffy and have 10 seats that can make all the difference.

 

Thanks @AyaLaRoux and @stumbler for playing along and this was fun considering where we are that is a major statement LOL.

We will have to see how this plays out and if Labour can hold steady from here and get SNP and LD onside they might be able to steal this from May and her Conservatives ???

 

It is actually YUGE right now LOL. That may be what she needs for her party to keep the House but I think she is done and a new leader will have to be chosen ...

 

25 ridings to report and 24 seats short ... there are absolutely zero winners here today and the biggest loser is the British public who just voted for chaos over stability ...

 

What the fuck!!! After following this all night with bated breath and you don't end up any better off than we are???

Listen JPT if your avatar didn't remind me of my favorite animal (the Pica) I'd shoot your fucking ass and eat you.

 

Yuppers, not even Trump could spin these numbers into a win LOL ...

Looks like DUP WILL play spoiler in a perfect world for May !!!

Also looks like both May and Sturgeon will be out of a job by next week ...

 

I'm pretty sure Sturgeon will hold on. The reason the SNP is at the (high) level it is right now is just because of her.

 

BUT they lost 21 of those seats today so someone will be out for blood ...

If someone stole 40% of my money I wouldn't even give them the courtesy of letting them know I was about to put a bullet in their head lol ...

 

Well what a yoyo ride ,
and it swung through looking like all different possibilities ,
but ,
its basically a complete fail.

Now the cat is really amongst the pigeons.

The question now I guess , is whether enough will risk going with the now lame duck ,
or will they shy away and give the opposition a chance to take over the helm.

Whatever , it is a disaster for the UK.
No clear mandate , just when they needed one the most.

So many variables and options , I wouldn't have a clue.

We still have main evening and late news to come , so I expect we'll get some pretty good analysis in the next 5 hours.
Be interesting at least.

 

Alright you guys sort this out for me. Its one of the headlines and stories I saw over here. Is it even close to the truth?

Tories lose big – UK Independence Party annihilated – Labour wins big