come out. john mcdonnell has has come out. john mcdonnell has said labourare in has come out. john mcdonnell has said labour are in stand—by to form a minority government but no deals with the snp and the lib dems. that is not how a minority government works. there would be backroom deals, of course, it means no formal coalition as we saw between the conservatives and the liberal democrats. you could not do it otherwise. it would be very difficult to organise and the arithmetic is against you. the finishing line is 322 because the seven sinn fein mps have abstained. it will be 318, 319, they will do the deal with the dup who will extra ct a the deal with the dup who will extract a huge price for this coalition of chaos, which will be created. they will want the border with the republic of ireland which rules out a very hard exit. labour is waiting in the wings, hoping to

form... dup are the king makers, and you can't have a coalition without them. you can put labour and the greens and the snp and the lib dems together and it would not be enough. the dup will be ruthless. aaaa a a a a redacted. maybe theresa may manages to get some kind of coalition together but it is fragile and it does not last long. the walk—out or something happens. they do not necessarily go to the country because they would need 66% of the parliament to vote. so you could have ajeremy parliament to vote. so you could have a jeremy corbyn government. that fixed term parliament act is the tory‘s friend. the dup will never countenance talking tojeremy corbyn because of his issue that did not hunt for the tories in the

election campaign, his attitude to the ira. the tories can be confident that whatever price is extracted from them, they will never put jeremy corbyn into downing street. they will trigger another election. they will trigger another election. they will trigger another election. they will play hard with her. she is weak. we know she is a lame duck now. they can spin it anyway they like, she was really a commanding figure. people got to know her and they not like her. it was almost like she was trying to lose the election with that social care u—turn. she pretended it was not a u—turn. she pretended it was not a u-turn. someone in westminster said to me that cameron gambled on the referendum and last, mrs may gambled on the election and lost, and they said to me, is the tory party a party or a casino? back to you, huw. on that note, what are mrs may's plans? what can you tell us, laura kuenssberg? in the last few moments i have been told that we can expect theresa may will go to the palace at

some point later today and crucially she will go to the palace to see the queen, iam she will go to the palace to see the queen, i am told, with the understanding and the belief that she can form a government based on some form of assurances and conversations that have been going backwards and forwards between the conservatives and the dup in the last couple of hours. as i understand that this is not necessarily an attempt to form a formal coalition but the dup has no wish to see theresa may out of office. they have certainly no wish whatsoever to work with jeremy corbyn, so just to whatsoever to work with jeremy corbyn, sojust to reiterate whatsoever to work with jeremy corbyn, so just to reiterate that, there is still nothing official, nothing confirmed, and sources tell me that we can expect theresa may will go to the palace at some point later today believing that she can form a government with the assurance and understanding from the dup that they will lend her they are support in orderfor her to they will lend her they are support in order for her to stay in office.

other conversations, and listening to nicky morgan there, stopping short of calling for theresa may to 90, short of calling for theresa may to go, unlikea short of calling for theresa may to go, unlike a close colleague anna super 8s. it seems to me at the moment that the sense is they are rallying around and allowing theresa may to stay in place. that said it will be a weakened and fragile theresa may staying in place that does happen and a fragile prime minister ina does happen and a fragile prime minister in a volatile era, that is not something with a necessarily very long shot life. we will be back with you shortly, laura. the news there that the parameter will be going to the palace at some point today. she will be seeing the queen on the understanding that she can tell her majesty that she is in a position to form a government depending on the ten votes of the democratic unionist party. that is the prospect and if we have more on the timing, we will bring it to you straightaway. we

expect the prime minister to go to the palace to tell the queen that it is possible to stay in power. we will be back with more on this in a second but we will get the news now with joanna gosling. second but we will get the news now withjoanna gosling. good morning. as we have been hearing, theresa may is determined to stay on as conservative leader. the bbc understands that despite a difficult night leading to a hung parliament, with all but one seat declared, the tories have 318 mps, eight short of the figure needed to form a majority. our political correspondent, helena guardian reports. a brief smile but it did not last long. a huge political gamble ended in failure. she had wanted to transform the tories‘ fragile majority into a stronger negotiating hand but instead her party has ended up hand but instead her party has ended up weaker. if, as the indications are shown, and this is correct, the conservative party as won the most seats and probably the most votes,

thenit seats and probably the most votes, then it will be incumbent on us to ensure that we have that period of stability and that is exactly what we will do. he confounded expectations. the labour leader arrived at party hq this morning with celebrations. we are ready to serve this country. that is what we fought this election for and this is the programme we put forward in the election. we have done no deals and no pacts with anybody. we are there with the labour party and our point of view. labour even took reading east, hosting a tory minister. in total, eight of theresa may's top tea m total, eight of theresa may's top team fails to get re—elected. the conservatives at the count in hastings looked glum. the home secretary, amber rudd, onlyjust scraping home by 346 votes. while the lib dems are celebrated the return of former ministers like sir vince cable, the party's old leader

had one of the biggest upsets of the night, losing his sheffield seat. had one of the biggest upsets of the night, losing his sheffield seatlj come of course, have encountered this evening something that many people have encountered before tonight and i suspect many people will encounter after tonight, which is that in politics you live by the sword and you die by the sword. the snp last big names on a very bad night. their deputy leader, angus robertson, ousted by the conservatives, and their former leader, alex salmond, has lost his seat, too. a few counts are still to comment but the result is clear. there is to be a hung parliament. it is not going to be a majority government of any colour. now some are questioning whether mrs may can continue. i think she is in a very difficult place. she is a remarkable and very talented women and she does not shy from difficult decisions but she now has two obviously consider the position. are you stepping down, mrs may? sources say she has no intention of resigning but she is weaker, has fewer mps and there are

questions over her future. there are reports that the conservatives have already begun talks with the democratic unionist party in northern ireland. the dup could help give the tories a working majority at westminster to enable them to govern. the dup took ten seats — that's up two. sinn fein won seven but will continue to abstain from sitting in parliament. both the sdlp and the ulster unionist party lost their seats. labour had a strong night in wales, reclaiming a number of seats from the conservatives. the results were a blow to the tories — they'd hoped to make gains in pro—brexit areas. plaid cymru won four seats, that's up one, and the liberal democrats lost their only welsh mp. the swing to labour seems to be highest in areas with a significant number of younger voters. some labour politicians are already ascribing their successes to a high turnout of 18 to 24 year olds. young voter turnout is estimated at 72 per cent, with turnout overall two per cent up at 69 per cent, the biggest since 1997. the outcome raises doubts about whether brexit talks can

begin later this month. european council president donald tusk has tweeted that he "did not know when the talks would start — only when they had to end". butjean claude juncker, the commission president, says the eu is ready for negotiations, and he hopes the uk will form a government as soon as possible. now back to huw edwards wtih the bbc‘s election special. good morning once again. we are one seat away from the full count of results. we just have one seat to go and that is kensington in central london. we havejust had cornwall

north come in as a conservative hold. so where are we at the moment? the conservatives on 318 and labour on 261. it is officially a hung parliament and all the talk of a solid majority for mrs may, that that has evaporated. it is a hung parliament with the conservatives as the largest party but they need the democratic unionist party to support them. i think we can go back to downing street because i think laura kuenssberg, our political editor, has another update for us. what do you have, laura ? asa you have, laura ? as a couple of moments ago i was suggesting that theresa may was to attend the palace later today, i have had it officially confirmed that she will go to the palace at 12:30pm to seek permission from the queen to form a government. official confirmation. she has no intention whatsoever of resigning and she will leave here in a couple of hours' time to go to buckingham palace to seek permission from the queen to

form a government. the way we understand she will do that is with assurances from the ulster unionists that they will see her through in parliament. as i understand it, this is not a formal coalition. this will bea is not a formal coalition. this will be a looser arrangement but quietly, and very definitely, those two parties have been working together behind the scenes for a couple of yea rs. behind the scenes for a couple of years. it was something that was not necessarily picked up often in parliament but on some crucial occasions, in fact when tory backbenchers had been opposing, either david cameron or theresa may, it had on some occasions been the dup that had actually seen the prime minister through. so in a much more public way, and a much more vital way for theresa may, it will be the dup that is essentially informally coming to her rescue. but she will bea coming to her rescue. but she will be a weakened prime minister, a much diminished figure, and it does not necessarily mean that she will be

able to stay in the post for very long. but for today, that is her plan. just behind us, is there any sense you are picking up that the prime minster has had to be talked into staying on? there was some suggestion from gus o'donnell that she may well have instinctively thought at the start of this set of results that she might want to leave immediately, but actually a lot of collea g u es immediately, but actually a lot of colleagues thought that for the sake of stability in government, she should stay. well, huw, when we saw her speak at the count in maidenhead, she looked extremely shaken. she looked like somebody who felt very personally, it looked like she felt the loss. from a human point of view, having had such high expectations and such failures on the point of view of expectation management, she looked like somebody who had absolutely no enthusiasm for the idea staying on. one cabinet minister said to mejust before the idea staying on. one cabinet minister said to me just before you came back to me that she does have

loyal supporters in cabinet, so although this has been a devastating time, it is certainly not the case that everybody in her circle, everybody in the cabinet will have been trying to push out. but in terms of whether or not she had to be talked into it or talked out of it, i suspect more broadly it was probably a more fluid conversation. they were probably looking at the potential angles and the different populations, and having conversations with the dup as to whether or not they were up for it. thank you, laura. in a moment, the latest from the city on the because of course the national market does famously not like a period of uncertainty. we will be with simon jack shortly. a quick thought on what kind of support we think theresa may has in cabinet?m what kind of support we think theresa may has in cabinet? it is interesting because theresa may is not clubbable, as they say in the house of commons. she does not drink gin is with the chaps late at night. she does not have many ministers who know well, and are personally loyal.

there were a tight group of cameroons, as the colburn, people who went to with james cameron —— david cameron. it is not like that with theresa may. there are few, but not many. one of the things she will have to do if she stays on its create a new network of links and friends within the conservative party because she does not have to do if she stays names create a new network of links and friends within the conservative party because she does not happen often. the conservative party because she does not happen oftenlj the conservative party because she does not happen often. i think andrew is absolutely right. it was the interview with nigel evans earlier where he was putting the blame squarely for that u—turn, for the policy being put out their first of all, the social care policy, and then the u—turn, which was unprecedented in election terms, we have never had a manifesto commitment made one day and literally within days there has been a u—turn, but he put the blame squarely on her advisers because she is known to deal withjonah hill and nick timothy, in a threesome, if you like in terms of putting policy together. that will have to end. i

think it will have to end more generally because they say that she has consulted on that policy and if she had consulted widely among ministers, they would have water of the pitfalls. whether the policy was right or wrong, because i think the polling will show that it affected her quite dramatically. let's ask that directly to beat. was that the point where the paul's made a significant change? yes, absolutely. the conservatives we re yes, absolutely. the conservatives were holding, even creeping up, until the board of the manifesto, —— the point of the manifesto. a week later they had dropped three points and labour had climbed a further three points and that was the game changer. if you take the simplistic but possibly correct view that those three points were lost for the rest of the campaign because of social care, that is the difference from a

hung parliament and a comfortable majority, if not a big majority. jeremy corbyn emerging, smiling broadly. he mentioned earlier that he feels he has policies which can appeal to people across the house of commons for the john mcdonnell said the same, offering the thought of a potential labour minority government, but everyone we have discussed that with this morning has said, the numbers don't make sense. look at that short—term, if the conservatives can do a deal with the dup they have a collective majority of 13, if they don't win kensington, 15 if they do, because of sinn fein not taking up those 76, and in the short run that is viable, but the immediate term —— taking up those seven seats. but when the policy strain emerges, that is when i would not like to place too much money on survival. the next few weeks,

relatively easy. we are getting a government, but not necessarily getting a long—term government, and the other thing, about the campaign, which we have not mentioned, the terrible terrorist incidents, in manchester and london, because that did badly disrupt the conservatives campaign and theresa may's campaign. we think back to the snowy day in john major's government when the ira hit a mortar bomb into downing street nearly killing lord o'donnell, a former guest this morning. we were engaged in another big idea meant involving europe, and the government had been moved to appletree arch shortly after this, and at the same way, the terrorist attacks disrupted the rhythm of the campaign —— admiralty arch. the campaign —— admiralty arch. the campaign was loosened in a couple of crucial moments. no one wants to

suggest that the terrorists had any kind of victory, but this did disrupt the campaign. if the conservatives had begun to develop a fightback in the wake of social care, the terrorist attacks disrupted any possible fightback so there was no new tory narrative that they could trump the old. the very effective labour counterattack, because the tories thought, if the terrorist attack, this will help us because jeremy corbyn, terrorist attack, this will help us becausejeremy corbyn, the terrorist attack, this will help us because jeremy corbyn, the friend terrorist attack, this will help us becausejeremy corbyn, the friend of the ira and all of that, but labour came back very fast on police numbers and the number of armed police in the ticket and they were supported by serving police officers. —— armed police in particular. that was a success for the labour party and that fed into the labour party and that fed into the manifesto that was making promises on spending on public services more broadly. talking about polling milestones, things that marked the campaign, john hasjoined us. marked the campaign, john hasjoined us. it has been a long night, but your thoughts, when we match up the

events and the results to the stages of polling about what conclusions? it is pretty clear thatjeremy corbyn achieved something quite remarkable in this election campaign. the truth is, when the electorate have decided that a politician is not much good, they don't change their mind, that was the fate of william hague and iain duncan smith, and it was the fate of gordon brown. jeremy corbyn for the last two years has been regarded by most british voters as incapable of being a party leader let alone prime minister. but in the course of this campaign is personal evaluation improved, such that by the end those polls that were asking people how good or bad the using jeremy corbyn is doing, he almost had as many people who thought he was doing ok as people who thought he was doing worse “— as people who thought he was doing worse —— how do you thinkjeremy

corbyn is doing. given when theresa may started this campaign, it sounded as though the conservatives campaign was going to be a one trick pony. campaign was going to be a one trick pony, that is, strong and stable leadership in the national interest, but when that became rather fragile for the reasons you have been discussing around the launch of the ma nifesto, discussing around the launch of the manifesto, while at the same time people were saying, hang on, jeremy corbyn is not so bad after all. what happened in particular apart from him catching the enthusiasm of young voters and those who had not voted before, but he also just simply persuaded those people who usually vote labour but who a few weeks ago we re vote labour but who a few weeks ago were still saying, i usually vote labour but i can't vote for them with jeremy corbyn, labour but i can't vote for them withjeremy corbyn, it is too extreme and he is useless. but by the end of the campaign they said just as many people who voted labour in 2015 were going to vote labour again. compared with the same for

those who voted conservative in 2015 and were going to do the same again this time for some this provided the crucial foundations for what is still, let's remember, labour have lost this election, they have lost this as badly as gordon brown did in 2010 and while jeremy this as badly as gordon brown did in 2010 and whilejeremy corbyn might be able to demonstrate that his strategy of not appealing to the centre of trying to go for young voters might not lead to a heavy defeat, he is still to prove they can take his party to a victory with that strategy. thanks. a quick word. the optimistic aspect of this, because theresa may famously tried to do the entire election campaign with a series of slogans, strong and stable, she didn't seem to want to have a lively and a vigorous conversation with the country about brexit or the economy, or anything else. jeremy corbyn appeared to be

listening and he had very strong views, but he was having more of a conversation and that was very important. the difference is, jeremy corbyn has spent nearly 40 years as a campaigner, albeit within a certain niche market. theresa may is not a people person and i think the public begun to realise this is someone public begun to realise this is someone who doesn't find it easy to think on her feet and who prefers to be well prepared before doing anything. the trouble is, when you are prime minister, that is not necessarily a mode in which you can operate, the same way as you might say gordon brown discovered when he also became prime minister. john, thanks. we will pause for a second. several themes raised about the may performance and we would like to set this ina performance and we would like to set this in a bit of historic —— the corbyn performance and we would like

to set this in a bit of historic contest to —— historic can we measure how badly labour have done? they have done better—than—expected agents, but we will set this in context —— better than expected. ok, they lost, but they did better than people expected, how does this compare to previous labour losses? they are better than ed miliband who lost a couple of years ago in 2015, who had a horrible time of it. they are in the zone that gordon brown was in in 2010 in terms of seat numbers. he is a bit ahead of that. neil kinnock. 271, that was the john a bit ahead of that. neil kinnock. 271, that was thejohn major election, huge turnout for the conservatives. neil kinnock had to resign. neil kinnock 229 in 1987 and

he was allowed to fight again, losing to margaret thatcher for her second landslide. this is the one that was defining for bad political campaigns and a disasterfor labour, 1983, the margaret thatcher landslide after the falklands war, and that labour leader was michael foot. people said before the campaign, is jeremy corbyn foot. people said before the campaign, isjeremy corbyn going to get what michael foot got or even go even lower? so he has completely changed the terms of reference, jeremy corbyn. he is a long way ahead of michael foot in 1983 for thejim ahead of michael foot in 1983 for the jim callaghan. he ahead of michael foot in 1983 for thejim callaghan. he lost against margaret thatcher when she won her first election. that is very much in the same zone. 1970, harold wilson. he lost against ted heath. you have a spectrum of labour leaders and you can see in terms of how well and bad

jeremy corbyn has done, he is very much part of the peace. and now a different measurement. we will look at percentages instead. if we go back to the harold wilson era. in the 50s, the labour and conservative vote would sometimes be above even 95%. we have a legacy of that, 43%, he lost the election with 43%, but that did not happen for many years afterwards. afterwards, losing labour leaders got, 37%, michael foot, very low, 28%. and then we move on, neil kinnock, 31, 34, this is the effect of many different parties, the liberals as they were. gordon brown, 29%. absolutely horrible in terms of the percentage. increased for ed miliband, but look

at this, isn't this amazing. 40% of the vote, four out of ten voters went forjeremy corbyn across the uk. and if you are a fan ofjeremy corbyn that is the figure you point to, because you say that is extraordinary. this is partly because ukip have left the pitch and the liberal democrats are down in the liberal democrats are down in the dumps, but this is a great statistic for people who say that this is the success forjeremy corbyn, that such a huge proportion of the electorate chose labour this time, and you have to go way back amongst losing labour leaders to find that, and he even beat tony blair in one of his winning elections. studio: fascinating. just underlining what has been achieved this time aspar as thejeremy corbyn campaign is concerned. i mentioned the markets have responded very nervously. my colleague is there, what is the reaction? once again,

the markets have been completely bamboozled and failed to read british politics, baber pricing in a solid tory majority like many pundits —— they were pricing. this is the value of the pound against the dollar, the most politically sensitive market, and it felt very sharply on that exit poll. many people expected it to fall further, but the pound started to say, why am ifalling? it but the pound started to say, why am i falling? it is the hard but the pound started to say, why am ifalling? it is the hard brexit that i most scared of, which we saw a big fall after the referendum result last year. since then it has crept up. then they think of is that true, maybe theresa may will be beholden to the hard brexit elements of her party but these conflicting thoughts have been going on all morning. businesses have said the brexit clock is ticking already. there is the worst possible outcome,

we have wasted valuable time, they have said, and they have not got the certainty going into those negotiations that we were promised. the other side, eu negotiators, they have been getting ready for this negotiation and it looks as if we are stumbling into the room at the last minute under prepared. the stock market went up a bit because as the pound falls those foreign earnings and multinationals are worth more. companies which are focused mostly on the uk, like banks and building societies, house—builders, their shares have suffered because this is seen as not brilliant for the uk economy. that is the market reaction here in the city. we will be back in the city of london later. it is coming up to 1030. we are continuing our coverage of the election. because of course

we are looking at a hung parliament and we're looking at the conservatives as the largest party and we are looking a possible understanding, informal understanding, informal understanding, not a formal coalition, between the conservatives and the democratic unionist party. our viewers on bbc world have been with us all morning. we wish you well. you are leaving us now. and oui’ well. you are leaving us now. and our coverage continues. before i joined andrew neil, we have an update on the position of the dup in northern ireland because they are now a very important part of this governmentjigsaw. now a very important part of this government jigsaw. they are kingmakers, potentially. the dup is meeting now to reflect on the situation which has been described as messy by one party source, they say that soundings have been made but nothing formal has been agreed. it would be an understanding, talk ofan it would be an understanding, talk of an agreement is described as premature, and the party is expected

to have a news conference in the early afternoon. the timing is quite crucial if theresa may is expected to go to the palace on the understanding that she would have the support of those ten dup in order to get through her policies and get that majority in the house of commons, so we need to watch that. this is pressuring negotiations, the dup will have a shopping list of what they would like in return, no doubt. we are expecting the prime minister to go to the palace in a couple of hours' time to inform her majesty of her plans and the fact she is confident of being able to form a government in partnership with the dup and then the dup to set out some details for us the dup to set out some details for usa the dup to set out some details for us a short while after that. we can go back to westminster. it is raining there now. it is more than rain. rain has turned into a tropical downpour. tory tears turning into a flood. the

bbc has written walls —— build walls around us. eric pickles has had his suit washed courtesy of the licence payer. eric pickles, the former conservative player and an activist with momentum, which has done so much to get mr corbyn as labour leader. mr pickles, one of your mps said that the conservative party had made a pigs ear of a national campaign. do you agree? it has not been the happiest campaign i had been the happiest campaign i had been engaged with. it is all rather pointless now. what we have to do is put a majority together to remain in government. there will be a time for us government. there will be a time for us to go through what went wrong and how we are coming through but i can tell you this, andrew, it is not now. maybe not but if you do manage to stay in government you will be

the walking wounded. it would be a lot better if we had a larger majority, 100 or 20 or 30. it is going to be very difficult. but that is democracy. that is what the people voted for and it is up to us to get on with the job. but doesn't it leave mrs may as a lame duck? no, i don't think that is right. i think she has the opportunity, she is going to see the queen at 12:30pm and she has the opportunity to put together a government. the most important thing is to be able to get a negotiating position ready for brexit. but she had a government six weeks ago. she had a government with an overall majority. it was not huge but it is an overall majority. now she doesn't that she will have to ask the queen permission to form a government. what is the good news for? she would have to ask the queen to form a government under any conditions. i think you are just rubbing it in. it is clearly not a happy moment for the conservative

party but it is not necessarily a fatal moment. what are you going to give to the dup, to keep you empower? what are you going to pay? fortu nately empower? what are you going to pay? fortunately i am not a member of the house of commons and it is com pletely house of commons and it is completely unlikely that i would be pa rt completely unlikely that i would be part of the negotiating team. but you will have to give something?” don't know what it is going to be. i don't know what it is going to be. i don't know what it is going to be. i don't know whether it will be supply and maintenance or issue by issue. you have obvious that a much better than many people thought, as has mr corbyn? what should labour do now? because you have still lost the election. we are disappointed to not be able to form a majority but i think we have seen a bold, positive campaign and a vision for the country which has been incredibly popular. if you think of seven weeks ago, theresa may called the selection thinking it would be a tory landslide and she would have a majority of over 100, and labour we re majority of over 100, and labour

were falling at 20%. we are now calling at 40%. it has been an incredible campaign. would you be nervous if mr corbyn tried to form a minority government, involving or sorts of deals and compromises, which could end in tears as well?l minority government, not a coalition, on a deal by deal basis, thatis coalition, on a deal by deal basis, that is my understanding and i think that is my understanding and i think that would be fantastic if it was able to be achieved. the british people would not have to live under tory austerity and it would set up a different direction of travel. is it not a yardstick of how appalling your party's campaign was that 40% of this country voted for mr corbyn's labour party? a bigger percentage voted for the conservative party. our poll rating never buried very much in terms of the percentage. 3096 forjeremy corbyn, and you thought you could wipe the floor with. i think i did and a lot of other people estimated

to limit underestimated mr corbyn and his achievements to get the share that he did and be able to turn over those seats, it is a considerable achievement. i do not ta ke considerable achievement. i do not take that away from him. we will leave it there and i thank you both. huw, by the time you come back to us we may well have dried out but don't count on it. thank you very much, andrew. meanwhile, we are back in our warm studio, if i may complain. andrew will not like that. what i would like to do is to catch up with more reaction. i think we are in a position to hear from reaction. i think we are in a position to hearfrom paul nuttall, who was standing in boston. do we have that? otherwise, i willjust ask for some reaction to what we heard from eric pickles. we have regressed electoral really back to our 2010 level. that is what many of us our 2010 level. that is what many of us believed would happen. and i know it comes as little surprise to many of you guys in the press. what we

have seen overnight is a return, and i believe it is only a temporary return, to 2—party politics. but at the moment, it could be argued that ukip have been a victim of its own success. we forced the referendum and we helped win brexit, and some people mistakenly think that ourjob is done. but it is not. with brexit, we may well have won the war but we now have to secure the peace. and thatis now have to secure the peace. and that is getting a good deal for the british people in these up and coming negotiations with the eurocrats in brussels. there is no getting away from the fact that this was a unique collection that came about at an inopportune time for our party. the prime minister was able

to talk the talk on the brexit negotiations without having to walk the walk. that is precisely why this election was called in the first place. and what a hubristic, foolish, politically naive election to call. it has put our brexit at risk. walking the walk starts in a few weeks, when the negotiations begin with brussels, and i wish the prime minister, whoever that is, all the very best. i hope whoever leads the very best. i hope whoever leads the team get the best deal for the british people. they will, however, only get a good deal if they believe in ourgreat only get a good deal if they believe in our great country, and they are genuinely prepared to walk away if the brussels bureaucrats put a bad deal on the table. in my heart, i hope that they do, like me, truly

believe in britain, but something in my head says otherwise. i hope i am proved to be wrong. as for ukip, i have said throughout this election that in politics sometimes the tide comes in and sometimes the tide goes out. but for us, although the tide may be out at the moment, at this present moment in time, i am convinced that it will return. the one question that i have been asked by the media more than any other during this general election has been what is the relevance of ukip now? well, i content, even after the difficult night last night that ukip is more relevant than it ever was. this is because ukip are, more now than ever after last night's

results, the guard dogs of brexit. and the prime minister, and i suspect it will be a tory, must now that if they begin to backtrack or barter things away, then they must now that they will be punished at the ballot box and that will only happen if ukip is electoral really viable and strong. we are, in effect, the country's insurance policy on brexit. ukip has also proved its relevance by leading the agenda in many ways in this election. to give you one example, we we re election. to give you one example, we were the first to talk about the greater need for integration and the threat posed to our people from the growing cancer of islamist extremism in our midst. unfortunately, the recent attacks in manchester and london have proved that we were correct. i would also argue on many other issues we have led and others

have followed. we put down a ma nifesto have followed. we put down a manifesto that not only highlighted many of the issues we now face but came up with common—sense remedies. indeed, i called it a manifesto that was a decade ahead of its time. and iam more was a decade ahead of its time. and i am more confident now than ever that many of our proposals in the 22017 manifesto will either the government policy or adopted by establishment parties before the next general election. —— our 2017 ma nifesto. next general election. —— our 2017 manifesto. i believe in the long term that some of our policy proposals are inevitable, such as an english parliament or a full ban on face coverings. i am proud to have stood on the platform of policies that included getting immigration under control. slashing the bloated foreign aid budget, reversing the cuts to our police force and

increasing the size of our armed forces. i content that if ukip is to prosper, it must continue to be the outriders of british politics. the party that leads the debate and does not follow. the party that is not hamstrung why political correctness and therefore strait talks and says what everybody else is thinking. if ukip sticks to these principles, then i believe that it will flourish in future years. indeed, i even predict, after last night, that if things go the way i expect, ukip could in 18 months‘ time be bigger in terms of poll ratings and members thanit in terms of poll ratings and members than it has ever been before. however, it will not be with me as its leader. i am standing down today as the leader of ukip with immediate effect. this will allow the party to

have a new leader in place by the conference in september. and at the annual conference in torquay, the new rebranded ukip must be lodged and a new era must begin with a new leader. this will be an exciting time for all of us who love our party. i have to admit, i never envisaged that i would lead the party into three by—elections and a general election in the space of six hectic months. i wanted at least a year of calm to rebrand and rebuild the party structures so we were ready for the electoral battles ahead. but alas... paul nuttall is standing down as leader of ukip with immediate effect. there will be a leadership contest later this year in time for the party conference. i

think that will make it three leadership contests in one year for ukip. in this context, when we are looking at a share of 1.8% of the vote, that was inevitable. rather small guard dogs of brexit these days. clever people with slide rules have tabulated that that will be five ukip leaders in nine months which even by the standards of british politics is going it some. he is an affable guy but he is not a successful leader. he got into a lot of trouble almost every time he appeared in public. the famous nathalie would statement where he could not remember leanne wood‘s name, he is frequently known as natalie nuttall in the press. it has beenin natalie nuttall in the press. it has been in miserable at variance for him. he did it with grace there, but it is very hard to see ukip providing quickly. that depends very much on a new leader. we have heard from nigel farage today as well, delighted that paul nuttall is

standing down. nigel farage will be bouncing back in his inevitable way. if the conservative party in parliament breaks badly over the brexit negotiations, and i think thatis brexit negotiations, and i think that is likely, then we will see ukip coming in to support the hard brexit from the outside, but if they are making the running in parliament, the conservatives, why would people look for another party outside parliament? i cannot see how they come back from this. this has been the demise of ukip, first in the local elections where they did very badly. and in this election, you are looking at their voters, they have no mps, and we can see nigel farage, the former leader of ukip saying that was an excellent speech by paul nuttall and he is very sorry he is standing down. and as we know, this is the man who said that he would be resigning and not coming back into front—line politics. he has had plenty of reincarnations in that regard. we could well see him back. your point about holding the government‘s leads

to the fire, they do not have the physical infrastructure to do that any more. i think paul nuttall‘s heart was not in towards the end because of the difficult time you talked about. when we interviewed him, we said, do you think you will be the last leader of ukip and he obviously said that was not going to happen but who will be the next leader, because they struggles to get one to stick around as long as he did, having had quite a few leadership contests and people pulling out within days. peter hennessy, in that paul nuttall speech, he went over the theme of projected difficulties for the conservatives in this brexit process. he is right? certainly right. i also have sympathy for him, think of the hell of being the leader of ukip with the bird of prey nigel farage hovering. it is extraordinary. we have got to remember, they reflected a slice of

opinion in our country which mattered. 4 million votes last time. absolutely. you have parties to give people voice, that is what keeps open societies on the road. on a lighter note, we can see from the tv shipment of the sunday times, saying all the elections end with nigel farage resigning or being appointed leader of ukip. sometimes both! yes, what did he say earlier? he would have to make a comeback to front line politics if brexit was at risk which he said it could be in the light of a hung parliament. we have been notified. exactly. one thing to refer back to, some of the seats where ukip did very well last time round, the 4 million votes, and there was an expectation of the campaign that those votes were folding into the conservatives, but

up folding into the conservatives, but up to folding into the conservatives, but uptoa folding into the conservatives, but up to a point. because it was clear from some of the grafts that some of them were dividing in the northern constituency, where the ukip vote had gone down or collapsed, it was dividing equally, labour were getting back some of those votes come so not as straightforward to say that they have gone over to the conservatives. as we can see from the result. many labour voters were worried about immigration and they we re worried about immigration and they were also hostile to the eu and ukip gave them a new voice, and now some of them are coming back to the labour party, but that is whyjeremy corbyn was so clear that he was going to be not clear that brexit because he knew so many of his vote rs because he knew so many of his voters had voted for brexit and the party was divided. keir starmer said thatis party was divided. keir starmer said that is why we are great for britain because britain is divided by brexit and so is the labour party and therefore we represent written. laughter —— represent britain. laughter

-- represent britain. we are expecting the prime minister to emerge at 1230 to go from downing street over to buckingham palace. we can go to downing street. we can get the latest on what is being said behind—the—scenes over the prime minister‘s position. behind—the—scenes over the prime minister's position. before i tell you that, i must remind you that exactly this time in 2015, we were talking about nigel farage being the vicky pollard of resignations, yeah, but no, but it sounds like we might get another year. enough of my bad metaphor. talking to tories outside, privately, from outside downing street this morning, it seems that theresa may has shored up her position at least for now. so what seemed a couple of hours ago very very uncertain, would she be able to get through the day? it seems now the sentiment of the horror of the prospect of another election seems to have allowed the party has

settled its collective nerve for a little while. those conversations have also made clear that many mps will regard her as a caretaker rather than a prime minister who will be in this for the long haul. one point about the fact she would have to rely on some form of assurance from the dup, nor clerics ackley what, but —— not clear exactly what that would be, but this isa exactly what that would be, but this is a thought, many important issues for the public social care, housing, they are devolved, so they are different in northern ireland, so what happens when it comes to a controversial vote in the house of commons, when the tories need to rely on the dup but they are not issues which are actually affecting the dup‘s voters. that could be quite a conundrum in the months to come for the tories. that might

exaggerate the effect you often see with minority governments where basically anything controversial, anything difficult, just doesn‘t even make it to the house of commons, let alone actually get its way through. a quick point. when we spoke to nigel evans, and nicky morgan, we were discussing the fact there was significant misgivings with the way the campaign had been run, specifically around the very close—knit group around the prime minister and the way she governs, basically. absolutely. to what extent is she able to change that because that is a very established pattern that she has? yes, it is her way, but it is very clear that mps will demand that some of her close tea m will demand that some of her close team go, and one former minister said to me it will have to be the case that fiona heal and nick timothy, her chiefs of staff, depart. that will be a decision for number ten and four theresa may, but

let‘s be clear, there are conservative mps who expect and demand that happens. there is unhappiness at how the campaign was run, but this is a symbol of how she had been running operations, not being inclusive and not consulting colleagues. i have to say, though, some people in the cabinet like the way she worked because they felt that when she had made a decision she tended to stick to it and she looked for evidence and things were much more formal. but because she is now so much weaker than she was 24 hours ago, she will have to take counsel from the cabinet and she will not now be able to sack her chancellor philip hammond and that pretty much had been the plan before this election. that matters because philip hammond is amongst the less sceptical end of the brexit spectrum. i hate to use the word is soft and hard, but it might well be the case that some members of the

cabinet want to put the approach to the single market back on the table. at the other end you have the dup, soft on some things, in terms of the border and the mainland of ireland, but they are definitely eurosceptic in their character but it is too early to say if this will change the nature of the kind of brexit we end up nature of the kind of brexit we end up with, but complications all around. this is a very complex set of consequences from what has clearly been a political disaster. we will be back. a quick word. clearly been a political disaster. we will be back. a quick wordm will be a personal humiliation of a new kind for theresa may to have to get rid of nick timothy and fiona heal and she would hate to do so in she will be badly weakened if she does because she depends on them very much. and whilst she would be ina weaker very much. and whilst she would be in a weaker position, as well, and her modus operandi will have gone, andi her modus operandi will have gone,

and i would be surprised if she finds that easy to do. she might at least get rid of one of them to at least get rid of one of them to at least make some sacrifice in that direction but it would be difficult to replace them with somebody else even though she only has a very small group of people to help. even though she only has a very small group of people to helpm even though she only has a very small group of people to help. it is almost saying to theresa may that you must be a different human being and that is very hard. the problem with the gatekeepers is a reflection of theresa may being very anxious, she's tough and determined, but also very anxious. everyone on all sides describes how things get held up by the gatekeepers, that is a deeply inefficient way of doing it, they get worn out and soda she forced she has cabinet —— they get worn out and so has cabinet —— they get worn out and so does she forced she has a lot of cabinet colleagues that she can turn to. a record number of female mps have been elected, by the way, more than 200 women in this parliament, and we still have one seat to go.

than 200 women in this parliament, and we still have one seat to gom kensington. but this is a record number. and who used to run women to run the conservative party? theresa may. exactly. the torrential rain is not putting off tourists who are gathering outside buckingham palace. ican gathering outside buckingham palace. i can show you the scene. changing the guard at buckingham palace. but all eyes on horse guards parade. many rehearsals going on for the birthday parade for the queen and the trooping the colour which takes place a week tomorrow. they are on their way to buckingham palace was. momentum marching there! the weather is not buzzing of people who have

come to see the great spectacle —— not putting off people. this is happening outside buckingham palace now. andrew neil? thank you for the sympathy. the sunshine has come out now. there you go. if you don‘t like the weather, hang around, it changes in15 the weather, hang around, it changes in 15 minutes. the weather, hang around, it changes in15 minutes. i‘m the weather, hang around, it changes in 15 minutes. i‘m withjean at miller who ran the famous supreme case at the supreme court —— gena gina miller. does a hung parliament, does that make what you would regard asa does that make what you would regard as a softer brexit more likely? or maybe make for a chaotic breakfast... sorry, brexit. it has been a long night! the people have spoken loud and clear and they have said we do not want an extreme brexit and we don‘t want to leave

the single market and that is what is going to happen and that is loud and clear. it was in the conservative manifesto and that is what they voted against 4th of may comes to chaos, i don‘t include will be, we won‘t end up with a hung parliament, we may have a parliament which votes issue by issue and when it comes to brexit we will go into the negotiation with a far more flexible approach. theresa may called this election because she said she wanted a mandate for her former brexit, what is the mandate this morning question —— this morning? it was very disappointing, but we are going to be the largest party by some way. the idea that labour can form party by some way. the idea that labourcan form an party by some way. the idea that labour can form an administration is for the birds, but labour can form an administration is forthe birds, but i labour can form an administration is for the birds, but i accept we have not got over the line. so what is her mandate? that we are the party

that will be the leading light in the government, we will have a supply and confidence arrangement with the dup which will be sustainable for the short and medium—term at and maybe beyond. where i agree with gina the important thing is to not frustrate brexit, we have got through the legal process, but i do hope that as pa rt legal process, but i do hope that as part and parcel of this, and i say this as a london mp where there has been some massive swings because of the brexit issue, which permeated through to the poor results of the conservatives, i would like to see an open offer from theresa may to make sure that we have as many voices as possible playing their pa rt voices as possible playing their part from other political parties in terms of trying to sort out what is going to be the right deal within a particular sector. is there not a dangerfrom your particular sector. is there not a danger from your perspective that if she is to do a deal with the dup from northern ireland, who are

pretty strong on brexit, that she will, despite not getting the mandate she wants, she will stick to herformer brexit that mandate she wants, she will stick to her former brexit that was in the ma nifesto ? her former brexit that was in the manifesto? i don't think so. more voices from different parties is absolutely right, this issue is too big to be left to 1—party full stop thatis big to be left to 1—party full stop that is actually what has won —— too big to be left to one party. this is in the national interest for many decades to come, and on the irish issue, for the dup, decades to come, and on the irish issue, forthe dup, the decades to come, and on the irish issue, for the dup, the truth of the matter is, there is a big issue we face regarding ireland. we treat it as an entity in its own right, or the islands of great britain. my preference would be the latter, and clearly it would also be that of the dup, otherwise they would be in locations following from that. the irish government are well aware of that issue. —— otherwise there would be implications following from that.

ifi be implications following from that. if i was michel barnier, the lead negotiator from the eu, if i was michel barnier, the lead negotiatorfrom the eu, i if i was michel barnier, the lead negotiator from the eu, i would think it is a bit late that you are going to consult all these people to find out what brexit really means because the negotiations start very soon. because the negotiations start very soon. i think he has been very fair. he has realised there will be a pause at this stage. they were not begin as schedule? they will be some meetings, but all of us have recognised, until the german election is sorted out, it will be quite difficult to get anything finalised. the better thing is to let's get this right and bring other voices to have their part to play and that means i accept the clock is ticking on brexit but we don't have to rush it over the next few weeks. if she manages to pull off forming a government, does she not now go into

these negotiations, given what she wa nted these negotiations, given what she wanted to achieve and has now failed, she goes into these negotiations diminished figure? that isa negotiations diminished figure? that is a problem because her reputation is a problem because her reputation is in tatters but i have always thought that eu does not want us to be failing and they don‘t want a failing neighbour and we don‘t want them to fail either, so it would be very reasonable negotiations and thatis very reasonable negotiations and that is what we did not have before, with theresa may we had a very closed and inflexible approach which was hard brexit or nothing, but we won‘t have that now. what gina miller was talking about was a fundamental reopening of our brexit negotiating position?” was a fundamental reopening of our brexit negotiating position? i don't think it is that. she is. talking about remaining a member of the single market.” she is. talking about remaining a member of the single market. i do. the risk, gina, that would be

frustrating the brexit agreed as far as getting to article 50. we researched with 50% remainers and 50% levers around the country and ask the question, do you want the against government to leave the single market, 50% said "no", 21% said they wanted to leave the single market. when it comes to freedom of movement, 69% said that they wanted those rights. i would be scared of opinion polls. this was a survey, directly asked questions. so when the result came we we re questions. so when the result came we were not surprised. snow this is the only thing that makes sense. it is not a political union, nor a military makes sense. it is not a political union, nora military union makes sense. it is not a political union, nor a military union or a traditional union. you want to remain a member of the single market and of the customs union. if that is not a radical redrawing of the brexit conditions, what is? the customs union issue is

likely to rather its head. a blind eye will have to be turned for goods to go from republic of ireland to... do you fear for this country. do feel. you have seen the jitters we have had today. i hoped we would have had today. i hoped we would have a definitive election result and a very stable government in place. you have none of that. theresa may has acted quickly to get a supplied and confident arrangement. it's and confident arrangement. it‘s an aspiration? and confident arrangement. it's an aspiration? it's a reality, unlike the offer from mr corbyn and mr mcdonald. that is a non—starter. will she ever recover her authority again with the conservative party after what she has put them through? she is their head of government. i disagree slightly with gina and her

relationship with the head of the european leaders. is she going to recover the authority with her own party? i'm confident we can it won't be easy. this has been a bruising and an unexpected experience, the danger with the campaign, the tone was negative. we didn't have the hope and the optimism that labour #3r able to portray but right to recognise that the brexit process is difficult. we had to level with the public on that. and to make the case of the danger of a corbyn/mcdonald government would do. you had the chance to make that case, look where it got you. back to you, huw. we are back in a couple of minutes talking about the nature of the campaign, sarah wilson talking about a negative campaign. we are talking about reports coming in that, so far, there‘s been no contact, or little contact between the prime minister and her team and

most members of the cabinet. in a moment the news. but first the weather, which we have seen is very wet in london. soa wet in london. so a little more sunshine compared to yesterday but keep the brolly to hand. the showers in the western areas. pushing to the east. central and eastern england, the showers could be herself. cloud in northern and eastern scotland but the rain turning lighter. many of you dry in the afternoon. especially in the west and pleasant in the sunshine. the temperatures in the high teens and low 20s. showers fading this evening. clouds breaking out tonight. easing in saturday to bright and blustery weather. for northern england and wales, and parts of devon and cornwall, rain. more persistent in the hills in the east, drier.

southern and eastern areas drier on sunday. sunshine coming through. elsewhere, though, sunshine and showers and feeling coaler. have a good day. theresa may will go to buckingham palace this lunch time to seek permission from the queen to form a government. with all but one seat declared, the tories is 318 seats, eight short of the figure needed to form a majority. the prime minister is trying to stay in office on the understanding that the democratic unionist party will support a minority conservative administration. dup sources say reports of an agreement are premature. our political correspondent reports. a oaf a brief smile but it did not last long. a huge political gamble ended in failure. she had wanted to transform the tories‘ fragile majority into a stronger negotiating hand but instead her party has ended up weaker. if, as the indications are shown,

and this is correct, the conservative party has won the most seats and probably the most votes, then it will be incumbent on us to ensure that we have that period of stability and that is exactly what we will do. he confounded expectations. the labour leader arrived at party hq this morning with celebrations. we are ready to serve this country. that is what we fought this election for and this is the programme we put forward in the election. we have done no deals and no pacts with anybody. we are there with the labour party and our point of view. labour even took reading east, hosting a tory minister. the conservatives in haste yings looked glum. ahmadinejad better are youed scraping home. but labour had the luck elsewhere.

labour even took reading east, hosting a tory minister. in total, eight of theresa may‘s top team fails to get re—elected. the conservatives at the count in hastings looked glum. the home secretary, amber rudd, only just scraping home by 346 votes. while the lib dems are celebrated the return of former ministers like sir vince cable, the party‘s old leader had one of the biggest upsets of the night, losing his sheffield seat. i encountered this evening something that many people have encountered before tonight and i suspect many people will encounter after tonight, which is that in politics you live by the sword and you die by the sword. the snp lost big names on a very bad night. their deputy leader, angus robertson, ousted by the conservatives, and their former leader, alex salmond, has lost his seat, too. after the best ever westminster election results with ten of northern ireland‘s 18 seats, the democratic unionist party have said they will make their influence felt. with one count still to come in, the result is clear. there is to be a hung parliament.

it is not going to be a majority government of any colour. now some are questioning whether mrs may can continue. i think she is in a very difficult place. she is a remarkable and very talented women and she does not shy from difficult decisions but she now has two obviously consider the position. are you stepping down, mrs may? sources say she has no intention of resigning but she is weaker, has fewer mps and there are questions over her future. the leader of the uk independence party, paul nuttall, is standing down from the job with immediate effect. ukip failed to win any seats in parliament and its share of the vote collapsed. earlier the former leader, nigel farage, hinted at a return to politics. labour had a strong night in wales, reclaiming a number of seats from the conservatives. the results were a blow to the tories — they‘d hoped to make gains in pro—brexit areas. plaid cymru won four seats, that‘s up one, and the liberal democrats lost their only welsh mp. the outcome raises doubts about whether brexit talks can begin later this month.

european council president donald tusk has tweeted that he "did not know when the talks would start — only when they had to end". butjean claude juncker, the commission president, says the eu is ready for negotiations, and he hopes the uk will form a government as soon as possible. let‘s return now to the bbc‘s election special. yes, good morning. it is 11.10.00am. we are back in the bbc election centre with the latest for you on the election outcome and of course we arejust one the election outcome and of course we are just one seat away from a full compliment of results. so with one seat to go in kensington, this is the result, the conservatives on 318, labour on 261. the

conservatives the biggest party in the new parliament but they don‘t have a majority. theresa may is facing a hung parliament. if she is to stay in power, which she intends, as she will say later in a statement in downing street, she will depend on the support of the democratic unionist party. a word about the seat we don‘t have, that is kensington in a very prosperous part of london, they are counting and re—counting it is tight between conservative and labour. we were told when they stopped counting as they were exhausted, labour was ahead by maybe 30 or 40 votes but they will not count again until later today, so we may get a result from kensington later in the evening, so there could be a result of 218, or 319. evening, so there could be a result of 218, or319. for conservatives. but basically, it is a hung parliament. i can tell you that the prime minister is going to buckingham palace at 12.30 and is

likely to make a statement at downing street on her plans. but lots to talk about on the challenges that she faces and indeed, peter hennessy is with us with a great perspective on what has happened in the past. in these circumstances in the past. in these circumstances in the past, what has happened, what has the prime minister been doing? ted heath was involved in a snap election. what they did on the friday afternoon, that was intriguing, he called the cabinet together to tell them he would try together to tell them he would try to do together to tell them he would try todoa together to tell them he would try to do a deal withjeremy thorpe, the liberal leered. then on the monday before he went to the palace to resign, that afternoon, if i recall correctly, he had another meeting to report on why he didn‘t think what jeremy thorpe was considering offering. which was not much. and i thought that he also thought that the offer was ropey. but if theresa

may is to be more collegial, one would look for her to take them into the cabinet. no sign of it yet. we have not heard anything of her gathering a team around her and as well as discussions with the dup, who she may want in confidence, who will be in her team? who she may want in confidence, who will be in herteam? 23 who she may want in confidence, who will be in her team? 23 you think while the election was going on, during the campaign with the talk of 80, 100 seats majority, talk that philip hammond, the chancellor, may no longer may be in post, she could move amber rudd, who only held on to her seat in haste innings and ben rudd. all of these things now. but these things have been circulated yet we still have not heard from the cabinet. what we are hearing is a lot of cabinet ministers have not heard at all from theresa may. there doesn't

seem all from theresa may. there doesn't seem to be many informal points being made either. both of the main party leaders have questions about how wide and generously they open up. does theresa may go to michael gove, who she had fired on the back benches, experienced, popular tories to bring them back? or how does jeremy corbyn build on the great electoral success he has had? lots of more blairite labour mps would have said he was rubbish, walked out. they have been proved wrong. now some are saying so, owenjones saying it was great, harriet harman. doesjeremy saying it was great, harriet harman. does jeremy corbyn hold saying it was great, harriet harman. doesjeremy corbyn hold out saying it was great, harriet harman. does jeremy corbyn hold out the saying it was great, harriet harman. doesjeremy corbyn hold out the hand to yvette cooper to say come on in, and build a proper labour cabinet. it would be a very generous thing for him to do. he is personally a

very generous and for him to do. he is personally a very generous and non—mean for him to do. he is personally a very generous and non—mean spirited individual. there are lots on the left who would hate the idea of bringing in wretched blairites in but it would be a clever thing to do. it is hard with the vanguard left party types, the hangover group from the old days do alienate the centre and the right. but the vanguard labour types do belief in that, an elite group to carry it forward. there is a manifesto to stick to. jeremy corbyn has not had it all his own way in terms of the manifesto on trident renewal and there are things that the moderate labour mps there are things that the moderate labourmps can there are things that the moderate labour mps can hold on to. i think he could afford an act of generosity to bring in some of those people. parties based on fraternity and brotherhood find it difficult to put it into practice internally. more eu response, an intriguing

statement from jean—claude juncker, of course, the president of the commission, on the whole business of extending negotiations on article over. asked at a news conference if the article 50 negotiations should be extended in the light of the uk election results, jean—claude juncker replied before they could be extended, they first needed to begin. so clearly again question marks over whether the rigid timetable of starting on talks is to happen. we have heard earlier, that they need to anybody a position where people are happy to start and can be confident in the process. so we will pick up in that in a while. there may be more from brussels. can i bring there may be more from brussels. can ibring in there may be more from brussels. can i bring injonathan bartley, the co—leader of the greens. thank you for waiting patiently to speak with us. what is your perspective on the outcome of the election and what you have learned from it? we were

talking about progressive alliances for two years. talking about progressive alliances for two yea rs. we talking about progressive alliances for two years. we stood aside in 24 seats to allow that possibility. the marginal seats, the swing seats to determine the outcome of the election. in some seats it has come toa election. in some seats it has come to a fruition. we are thrilled that there is a change in the way that we do politics in the country. with the labour party taking many of our ideas and people endorsing and voting for them. fantastic. ideas and people endorsing and voting forthem. fantastic. great ideas and people endorsing and voting for them. fantastic. great to have caroline lucas returning with a bigger majority but really worried about the dup having this sway over about the dup having this sway over a conservative government. they are climate change sceptics. they have faced accusations of bigotry and homophobia. to have them at the heart of government is worrying. when it comes to theresa may, her credibility seems shot. it seems to have been one mistake after another with theresa may. from originally getting thejob, as with theresa may. from originally getting the job, as everyone with theresa may. from originally getting thejob, as everyone ran away, to the invoking of article 50,

using the intelligence services as a bargaining chip. being dragged into parliament to have a meaningful debate on the final deal, the u—turn on the general election and now this mandate on brexit negotiations. this isa mandate on brexit negotiations. this is a government in chaos. and just looking to the votes, jonathan, you were just over half a million votes in the election. roughly 2%, half of what you got in percentage terms last time, how difficult a cam paper was it for the greens? it was tough but we knee we would take a hit. we were pushing ha rd would take a hit. we were pushing hard for the progressive alliance. for those candidates. to have one mp with half a million votes underlines the ongoing unfairness of the system we wish to change change. we have double the number of votes as the

dup who are about to prop up a government and call the shots that shows the absurdity of the electoral system. it needs to change. as we are looking at and seem to be, as we will hear from the prime minister, a conservative administration basically supported by the dup, ten of the dup mps, that is, is that the basis for a relatively stable government in your view, given the challenges coming up or not? the dup, i don't think, they are the kind of people you want calling the shots. we have just got rid of calling the shots. we havejust got rid of ukip. this seems to have finally died a death. but without mps they were still calling the shots. they said jump, the government said how high and we saw them pursue this extreme brexit. now what with the dup? and the climate change scepticism ? now what with the dup? and the climate change scepticism? will they exact a serious price for the government being propped up in this way? that‘s a coalition of chaos. we will be hearing, i think, from

the dup, a little later today. maybe some answers to those questions. thank you very much forjoining us, jonathan bartley, thank you very much forjoining us, jonathan ba rtley, the thank you very much forjoining us, jonathan bartley, the co—leader of the greens. i would like to hear from voters. let‘s go to york where the big debate took place at the university of york. steph is there for us. good morning. glorious in york. getting back to normal after a fairly busy night. some people are queuing up ready to go off on a boat trip around york. but many wondering what on earth happened and what does it mean? not least the voters. good morning everyone. i know between you, there has not been much sleep. but let‘s have a quick chat with all of you. sam, how are you feeling? a labour voter, you look happy?” of you. sam, how are you feeling? a labour voter, you look happy? i am very happy. i regret the fact we‘re not ina very happy. i regret the fact we‘re not in a position to form a

government but a brilliant result from seven weeks ago. you‘re a student, how important was it for you to vote? it was really important. i was purr swaying people to vote no matter what party. it is important for the students to get out and vote. the turnout has been miserable it was nice to see it up. thomas, you are a student, you are a ukip supporter, who did you vote for? i spoiled my ballot. i was excited that they could not form a government. i this think that the platforms that they run on is terrible. one is a communist and theresa may who ran on fox—hunting and censoring the internet. i don't think either deserve to form a government. for you it was important to spoil the ballot to say something?” for you it was important to spoil the ballot to say something? i think we have to register our dismay at the system and the dismay at the parties ignoring us. lorna, you are somebody who has been watching all night. how are you

feeling today? you voted conservative? i voted conservative with a heavy heart. i feel that they must get more compassionate and get a social conscious. i don‘t think that they are listening to what people want. however, ifelt they we re people want. however, ifelt they were the strongest party to lead us into brexit. i‘m dismayed as to where we go now, how will we get through brexit. lance, you are a lib dem voter. how are you feeling today? bittersweet. i think four are you feeling today? bittersweet. ithink fourgains are you feeling today? bittersweet. i think four gains is good. in new places as well. the thing for me, on the other side of the bitter side, it was nick clegg losing his seat. were you shocked? no comment. when i said tho you earlier, you put your head in your hands, didn‘t you? yeah but now the cameras are rolling! but, it was quite good what they were saying as nick clegg was

they were saying as nick clegg was the reason i was enthused in politics. has it changed how you feel about politics? not necessarily. it has made me more determined to change minds, if that makes sense. like these guys, do you feel like there is more support with young people? is it something you are talking about more? the weird thing about the election, after the brexit, after the eu referendum, everybody on my facebook page started to talk about politics. it was surreal as before nothing like that had happened. brexit changed a lot of minds and allowed a lot of people to step into that sphere of politics where they didn't necessarily didn't want to get involved before or didn't care. and you are nodding, that is something that is important to you, enthusiasm for politics?” something that is important to you, enthusiasm for politics? i believe evenif enthusiasm for politics? i believe even if you don‘t vote conservative, like i do, you should be involved in

politics and make your voice heard. although you may not be interested, they are haved in you, whether it is your taxes, your censorship and how your taxes, your censorship and how you live your day—to—day life. i am disappointed with the results, it was not what we were hoping for, based on the polls. but we have to look at howjeremy corbyn has done well, based on the results. and we have to work harder for the future. what would you do if you were theresa may? i would look at forming a coalition with sensible partners that can meet in agreement. look at yourface, that can meet in agreement. look at your face, lance, you are having none of it! i don't think it will happen. i was going to say two different pages but it is two different pages but it is two different books when it comes to the lib dems and the tories. i highly doubt it will. i highly doubt it as well. i don‘t think it will be with the liberal

democrats. i don‘t think after the last time you were burnt and we had to deal with you. it is not likely to deal with you. it is not likely to be the dup but it is the sensible solution as they are slightly closer to us than the liberal democrats. and, now, claire, you have a comfort cake. you voted conservative but you have a cake ready to eat, to console yourself? it was a long night, a very disappointing night. off to work, and had to buy comfort food to get me through the day. but, yeah, it's a mess. it's a mess, for everybody. guys, thank you very much for joining us, i really appreciate it. at least we got to sit in the sun. but that‘s it for me for now. thank you to all of the guests for a fascinating range of views. steph mcgovern with young voters in york. i mentioned earlier, that

jean—claude juncker, the president of the european commission had made a statement, and of course all eyes are on the words temperature jean—claude juncker and colleagues such as donald tusk about the impact, the likely impact of this uncertain election on the brexit process , uncertain election on the brexit process, which is starting within days. i think that we have a statement from jean—claude juncker. this is what he said. all of the elections are important. the one yesterday was of a particular importance. i hope that britain will be ready to stay open for negotiations. as far as the commission is concerned we can open with negotiations tomorrow morning at 9.30am. we are waiting for visitors from london. i hope that we cab not experience further delay in

the conclusions of the negotiations. first to agree on the divorce and the exit and the future of the negotiations. i hope that the result of the elections will have no major impact on the negotiations. we are desperately waiting for. well, what do we make of that? that very carefully worded message by jean—claude juncker. they are standing by, andy? slightly menacing, there, ithought. we know you are waiting. we are ready for you. it will be a big priority for theresa may to try to get the negotiations going in an orderly way. there is a plan and she will hope above all that she can get that going. the one thing she can rescue from this, if she was the prime

minister to negotiate what was seen asa minister to negotiate what was seen as a successful negotiation, we may start to forget about the disastrous election campaign she's had. a thought before we join andrew neil it is surely the case that now that she is looking at the start of the talks and having to talk to the dup, that she may be having to revise the options or the parameters for the talks? the dup take a softer line on the single market. the view in downing street is that we can't be members of the single market as we don't have control of the eu migration, so that is out. but the dup take a different view, as does the snp. so that would drive tim farron and the hard brexiteers nuts with fury. let‘sjoin andrew neil with fury. let‘s join andrew neil down in westminster. thank you. i have dominic grieve, former

attorney general, john trickett, and a trisco of formers. i have been looking at a headline: may hang out to dry. grim—faced mrs may. and the editor of the evening standard these days, is george osborne, a former conservative colleague. has theresa may been hung out to dry? it has been a disappointing result. one of the consequences of this vote is that we once again see how brexit has destabilised the british political system and the trouble is once you have revolutionary acts like brexit it creates a swing of the pendulum in another direction. in this case it

centred mainly on young people, who i suspect may not have been in favour of brexit but didn‘t vote in the referendum, expressing their unhappiness by being attracted to other options, some of which i feel are incoherent but nevertheless attractive. are the knives out for mrs may? not for me. seeing that the queen‘s government must be carried on and no party other than the conservative party ca pa ble party other than the conservative party capable of acting in government, the idea that it would anybody the national interest to get rid or change the prime minister is far—fetched. paddy ashdown, the situation has not quite worked out, has it? no but we have increased labour seats by 50%. name another leader who has done that.

we are growing in numbers and also in weight and ability. you got 30 seats, that‘s it? in weight and ability. you got 30 seats, that's it? yes, indeed, andrew, and no—one is suggesting that is a position to build a government from tomorrow. your leader said there were scores of seats you would win on may 5th the party is growing. and it has weight. we are going to make a difference. the real question today, and by the way, the evening standard headline is great it is george osborne revenge and a long time coming but the prime minister has lost touch with reality. she's a proposition to the country, asking for a mandate for a hard brexit, the country returned a resounding raspberry, and yet she still went off to see the queen, as

if nothing had happened. what is going to happen? is it hard brexit in which case she has ignored the fa ct in which case she has ignored the fact that the british people comprehensively refused to give her a mandate for that yesterday? or is it now a soft brexit? in which case, you have a prime minister who started off as a remainder, then we nt started off as a remainder, then went to a hard brexit, and is now going to the european union to say that she wants a soft one. it is untenable. but here is the point — she has no democratic legitimacy for the proposition she has made. to put the proposition she has made. to put the dear old queen through this process again, it is a bit like london buses, if you wait long enough, another conservative prime minister will come along pretty soon. minister will come along pretty soon. she cannot last, her position is untenable. this is a position which gives no credible to and no bargaining power with the european union. given the instability and then certainty that we are now if labour seriously in a position to

form a minority government? the first thing is, she is the prime minister. —— uncertainty. iwas first thing is, she is the prime minister. —— uncertainty. i was in charge of the transitional team, had we won. they made it clear that in the case of a hung parliament, she has the choice... she gets first chance. but look at the mess they are in. they have got brexit on the 19th, the queen‘s speech on the same day, the 19th and then, on the 26th, the possible northern ireland situation. let me come back to my question — is labour in a position to form a minority government? we believe we can put together a queen‘s speech which would command a majority in the house. but that is not our option until she demonstrates that she is incapable of doing it. she needs to come to us. is in serious problems that she has created for the country, and not least of them, this irish problem. she is proposing to depend on the dup. i know you want to talk about

her but i want to talk about labour. let me ask you this. if as you argue she cannot put together a government with 318 conservative mps, how can labour put together a stable government with 261? we think we can put together a queen‘s speech which will command a majority in the house. you only got 206 to one mps! we think there will be a wide support for a range of measures to deal with the immediate problems facing our country. but even if you got to the lib dems, which is a big if, paddy is shaking his head, up to the snp, and there is not as many of them any more, the one green, who else are you going to get? we will put a proposal to the house if we are given the opportunity by the queen. we are not talking about creating a coalition or anything like that. i am asking you, where does the support come from? look, we will put the proposals down if we are given the opportunity by the queen, and we will see what happens.

if nobody is able to form a government, then you know as well as ido, we government, then you know as well as i do, we are back into an election. you think there will be another one this year? i think there will be. i have not been to sleep for three days, hardly! this is a serious problem, are we really going to have a government which depends on the unionists, with the power sharing executive... ? i unionists, with the power sharing executive...? i think it is typically outrageous. dominic grieve, mrs may made a calculation which has turned out to be a massive discount elation and has plummeted this country into instability and uncertainty. what‘s wrong with that statement? i don't disagree that the consequence of the election is to create greater uncertainty. but to come back to the point you were posing... and instability. the question is, how do we carry on the queen's government? either we question is, how do we carry on the queen's government? eitherwe have an immediate general election, and i'm not sure the electorate would welcome that, all we have to try to

put together a policy which can be taken put together a policy which can be ta ken forward. put together a policy which can be taken forward. it is quite apparent that only the conservative party can do that. this is fantasy land from labour to suggest that they can put a government together. is right, it is fantasy land, but it is also fa nta sy is fantasy land, but it is also fantasy and to think that she can continue. you think she should stand down? i... in her explanation as to why she would go to see her majesty the queen, she said, the country needs stability! oh, no, not more mrs may stability! because there is no prime minister we have had, perhaps excepting only mr cameron, who has given this country so much instability. you were shooting, it's a mess. the country is broken, it's fractured, it's adrift, it doesn't know what to do next. and if the conservative party want to appeal to her majesty to be given the chance to form a government spies they are entitled to do, then they will have to choose another leader, and sooner or later, they will. is that coming up or later, they will. is that coming up in the tory party? i have no

idea, i have no desire to see it because i think it would be even more disruption and i‘m not sure where the national interest lies in that. the prime minister has never been elected, and we are now proposing to have a second prime minister who has never been let it! what a bizarre situation!” minister who has never been let it! what a bizarre situation! i want you to reflect on this statement. we have now had two conservative prime ministers who have given this country, insisted on giving this country, insisted on giving this country vote we neither needed nor wanted, in the interests of the conservative party, not of the nation. and in both cases we have ended up in a bigger mess than we we re ended up in a bigger mess than we were when we went in. why should anybody trust any of you ever again? i have to say that my experience of the last five years in politics is, there are probably good reasons why there are probably good reasons why the electorate should not trust any politician ever again, and that is my anxiety. i would like to see some sta ble my anxiety. i would like to see some stable government, and it seems to me that the best way forward is the way the prime minister has proposed this morning. everything i hear from

you, the difficulty of mrs may being the walking wounded but trying to put the government together, and the real difficulty of mr corbyn, with only 261 seats, trying to get a programme through parliament, that we are in a period now of indefinite instability. she shot herself, that is the situation we are in, she created the pressure in terms of brexit nobody decided the time scale, except her, nobody decided the 19th, it was not imposed on her, it was decided with her consent. nobody decided the queen‘s speech she should be on the same day. yes or no, will there be another election before the end of the year? god help us, we have had enough. it looks a bit like it. dominic grieve? i have no idea, ithink looks a bit like it. dominic grieve? i have no idea, i think it is possible. i think so, i have no idea, i think it is possible. ithink so, and i have no idea, i think it is possible. i think so, and we will have a labour government. gentleman,

thank you very much. back to you, joe edwards. before we even get to the thought of another election, there is the point about how to construct there is the point about how to co nstru ct a there is the point about how to construct a government this time, following this election. as we now know, the democratic unionist party in northern ireland is absolutely critical to the solution that theresa may is hoping to put together and one that she may well address when she speaks later, probably in downing street, within the hour, when she‘s on her way to see the queen. let‘s get the latest intelligence for belfast —— from belfast on what the dup mindset might be going into that. chris buckler, can you help us with that? northern ireland only has 18 mps and normally, they don‘t matter that much ina normally, they don‘t matter that much in a parliament of 650 people, but boy, do they matter this time, and particularly the ten dup mps? there is no doubt that the parties have been talking, they have been talking for some time. they have a very good relationship at westminster. even in 2015 when there

was that talk of a hung parliament, at that stage the dup and conservatives were chatting, working out whether or not they could potentially do a deal. and there have been some private negotiations to ensure that the dup would back the tories in some of the votes which have taken place in the last parliament. they say at this stage, talk of a formal agreement is premature. but they accept that there have been talks and soundings and that they are trying to work out some kind of a deal. the big question is, what will that be? will it be something where they will fa ncy it be something where they will fancy with them do they want something more formal in return for it? one thing is for sure, they will definitely want something in return for it, huw. that is likely to be some money for the economy in northern ireland of some sort, and some say in terms of the brexit negotiations. they believe this could put them into a good position. frankly they are licking their lips at the prospect of being able to have some kind of gear towards the

prime minister and the government, as these negotiations take place. and they have a range of issues when it comes to making sure that the border is as open as possible, that potentially money comes in. they are really openly saying that they want to bea really openly saying that they want to be a part of something here.” have got a comment here from the irish prime minister, and we do know that nicola sturgeon, the first minister of scotland, is also going to be making a statement admit date the government we hope to have that live for you when it happens. the irish prime minister has said... the inconclusive outcome of britain‘s election amounts to a rejection of a ha rd election amounts to a rejection of a hard brexit and provides an opportunity for ireland, he says. it isa opportunity for ireland, he says. it is a rejection of hard brexit terms. what do we think of that? very interesting, everybody is piling in with their own interpretation. the truth is that if theresa may has less room for negotiation, and will find it harder to do compromise deals, that does not necessarily mean that we will go in a soft

brexit direction, it might head towards ha rd brexit direction, it might head towards hard brexit, it depends whose votes in the house of commons she is most frightened of. and we know that there is a firm, clear brexiteer group in the house of commons, which is better organised than anybody on the other side of the argument. and also, when you look at that group, they are also prepared to go out and go after brexit euroscepticism in a way that they put ahead of the party. which some mps might not be prepared to do but they will. so it really depends on the pressure. we can have a look at the second edition of the evening standard now, the front—page. of course, the editor is one george osborne, former chancellor. ever since he has taken over thatjob, the headlines have not been friendly towards theresa may. we now have this one... and i think one of the lines underneath is, orange is the new blue. pretty put a —— pretty

provocative, you might say. the timing is critical as emma she's going, as is convention, to see the queen to form the new government. meanwhile, theresa may has got to put this government together. steve hawkes at the son has said the reshuffle is obviously going to happen for those ministers, lower down the food chain, but who lost their seats. and she will be repressing them with people who again will reflect, it will be interesting to see how they affect the brexit discussion. this is what he says... quick thought, peter? on the irish point, it is hard on a morning like this to find anything consensual, but everybody is lined up on the need to get the irish thing sorted as quickly as possible in the negotiations, the common travel area and all the rest of it. so i think

there are reasons to be cheerful, but of course, then it gets very difficult to work out how to do it, but there is a consensus there in a way there is in very few other places this morning. let's remind ourselves, theresa may‘s conservatives notched up 42.4% of the vote in this election. it was not enough to get them a majority in the commons. but how does that compare with previous performances? we had a look at labour‘s historic performances earlier, so we can now look at the conservative one‘s. performances earlier, so we can now look at the conservative chasm isa look at the conservative chasm is a funny situation in our system, when you have a hung parliament, whether you describe party with the most seats as having won the election, orjust come first, or what. in a sense, you only win by having an outright majority. let‘s see some previous conservative winners and look at the number of seats they got. so, here we have theresa may in 2017, with 319, not an outright majority in the house of

commons, that‘s what has caused all the trouble. and the majority that she threw away, the seats she threw away, it was 331, in 2015, david cameron‘s shock victories, which put him in control, surprisingly, of the house of commons. she could have stuck with that for five years — she didn‘t. so, we are looking at seat numbers. how many were didn‘t. so, we are looking at seat numbers. how many were won didn‘t. so, we are looking at seat numbers. how many were won in previous elections whether conservatives came first? in 2010, cameron did not get an overall majority, he had to go into coalition with the liberal democrats, he had 307. that‘s a slightly below where theresa may finds herself today. in 1992, john major squeaked in with 336. it was narrow, it gave him five years of trouble at westminster, but it was an outright victory. then we had the landslide for mrs thatcher in 1987. we arejust nicking

landslide for mrs thatcher in 1987. we are just nicking some conservative winners here. 397 against michael foot in 1983, that was a very against michael foot in 1983, that was a very big victory for the conservatives. and we go back to the first a little bit win, 339. all of those were majorities, theresa may‘s isn‘t, that‘s the problem. 1970, surprise victory for edward heath. so, from that point of view, if you‘re going to call theresa may one of the winners here, in that she got more seats than any other party, she is not a convincing win at all and she might even be out of a job soon. who knows? but there is a line of defence. i‘m going to show you how we can look at this slightly differently. let‘s go back to edward heath in the 1970s and the percentage of the fancied he got when he won. it was 46% of. we are coming off the period where the two main parties shared may be 90% of the vote or more. we have mrs

thatcher winning with 45%. we are in the 40s now. and then it starts to decline as emma ukip are on the pitch and the lib dems are stronger, and the greens and so on. we were starting to think in 2010, maybe you will never see the big hearties go above 40%. so, 2010, cameron came first, with 37. not a convincing win at all. and still in 2015, he didn‘t have 40% of the vote. so, have a look, theresa may has got 40% of the vote. that rather undercuts the conversation about what a disaster it has been for her. she or her supporters could say, look, 44%, you‘re talking about actually, the proportion of the vote that mrs thatcher got when she beat michael

footin thatcher got when she beat michael foot in 1983. isn‘t that remarkable? 0f foot in 1983. isn‘t that remarkable? of course, it is a function of the smaller parties clearing the stage ata smaller parties clearing the stage at a particularly ukip not doing very much at all in this election. but it is so interesting that you can use that line of defence for theresa may. they can, jeremy, but maybe we should wish them luck with that! that‘s underlining the outcome ofa that! that‘s underlining the outcome of a hung parliament, and lots of signals from within the conservative party people are increasingly dismayed, angered, frustrated, with the style of government. sarah wollaston now contributing to this chorus of voices, talking about theresa may‘s special adviser? chorus of voices, talking about theresa may's special adviser? yes, criticising that style of government. sarah wollaston, a prominent conservative mp, who obviously feels this was an own goal, it was self—inflicted. and she again is calling for the advisers to

go. as per our earlier discussion, theresa may needs people around her when she trusts and she has relied on. but you can see and understand why there will be a chorus saying, we need to blame someone here. if we‘re not going to blame theresa may directly by calling her for go, we‘re not going to blame theresa may directly by calling herfor go, we have to blame the people around her. let'sjam each have to blame the people around her. let's jam each her a have to blame the people around her. let'sjam each her a bit further. and nigel evans did it earlier, too. you were suggesting earlier, quite strongly, that she couldn‘t really function without these people? every prime minister has a different style, and there is no easy answer. if you are too open, if you go back to full—scale cabinet government, particularly with a divided hearty on europe, you have endless conversations, they get leaked, nothing happens very quick. and so you get the pressure to have a tight ina team. you get the pressure to have a tight in a team. tony blair ran it, he got criticised for the soap of government style a lot, but for a long time it was highly effective. john major went the other way. there is always a pendulum. and she has

gone for a tight in a team. my point is, if you say, you can carry on as prime minister but we‘re going to remove your tight in a team and see how you get on, the answer might be pretty bloody. but there have been some notable examples where her own ministers have gone out to bat on a particular policy, controversial though it has been, and i am thinking of the national insurance contributions for the self—employed, when philip hammond said that they would go up, that particular class, it was a manifesto promise that had been broken, but we spoke to ministers who supported that policy, and as they were doing it, she had backtracked. so, there is some bad experience. there is a problem. you mention philip hammond for what i think is very clear to a lot of tories today is that she has to go out and make new connections. broaden it. it is always very, very dangerous when the prime minister and the chancellor become dislocated from each other, and that was beginning to happen. philip hammond is much liked in the city by the big banks and the insurance companies,

who see him as a strong voice for their interests. if she got rid of him, that voice will have gone. very, very important i think in this case. it is more about the ministers that she has to make better relations with. peter, what does history tell us about the way that certain ways of working within no 10 have been successful or not? going back to the old days, jim callaghan and clem attlee, in a slightly different way, were very collegiate whenever they could be, so that their colleagues understood if they had to go into smaller groups, jim callaghan in particular on nuclear weapons, and also interest rate decisions, which were then political, they were not devolved to the bank of england. and also you need the gift for political friendship, and mrs may does not actually have that. every prime minister needs his or her friends at times of crisis. and mrs may, for all her many gifts, is an iceberg. and one final thing on leadership,

because, as we know, theresa may went into this about her leadership, and jeremy corbyn was criticised endlessly for leading a party whose ma nifesto endlessly for leading a party whose manifesto he didn‘t believe in entirely, but he said, he made a virtue of the fact that they had come to a collective view, it was a collegiate affair, which as they say he was criticised for. but there will be the irony there that she has not done as well as she expected on the basis of her strong leadership, and he has done better by being collective and collegiate. what i would like to do at this point, we we re would like to do at this point, we were talking about the conservative performance, upwards of 44%, labour notching 40%, and before i go to emily to talk about some of the gains, andy, you were making the point to me earlier about what corbyn has achieved in terms of the share, which we need to underline? in terms of the rise in the share of the vote, he has done better than anyone except weather at league back

in 1945. anyone except weather at league back in1945. again, anyone except weather at league back in 1945. again, that is a very strange statement, corbyn coming from the left of the party. in clem attlee‘s terms, he would not be regarded as that left wing on a comic so and so forth. but he has driven labour‘s share of the vote sharply upwards full stop and that is the achievement of the momentum and the social media campaign and the unorthodox style of campaigning which lots of people like us sneered at and we were all wrong. that is a major game changer. i think all the british parties will look at this afterwards and our political culture will feel slightly different as a result. and it is the delayed effect of the huge expansion of british higher education. this vote was just waiting to be won. when i went to college, it was 7.5% of the age group went, it is now four 45% going to college. and they have tapped it. wentjeremy corbyn says he is ready to serve the country, he does so now

with a much stronger geographical mandate. he‘s no longer going to be seen as mandate. he‘s no longer going to be seen as the home is eating mp for islington north. he does so on these kind of game, 35 labour gains overnight, and in all sorts of different areas in the country. canterbury, ipswich, stroud, places you never thought that we would see labour taking. this one is extraordinary, it was an incredibly safe a nswer extraordinary, it was an incredibly safe answer back seat, number 104 on the target list. it has not been anything other than conservative since world war i. julian brazier has been the sitting mp here since 1987. to take this was a real feather in the cap forjeremy corbyn. as i said public was not the only outside london part that they took. stroud, they overturned a majority of nearly 5000, and

ipswich, perhaps the story of the night. ousting ben, , ipswich, perhaps the story of the night. ousting ben,, the man who helped theresa may right that conservative manifesto. and he was tipped just a week ago to be the next exit secretary if she got her big majority. there is one result that we are still waiting for to com plete that we are still waiting for to complete our picture, and that is the result in kensington. let me just show you why kensington is particularly interesting. we hear there are about 35 votes between the two parties in this true blue territory which has a very strong and vocal brexit mp in a remain a pa rt and vocal brexit mp in a remain a part of the world. chelsea has

stayed blue. but you can see the swings. that‘s why, when we look at kensington, something which seemed not even worth considering in the target list, we are now looking very, very closely at this. and i wa nt to very, very closely at this. and i want to finish on one more comparison, if we can, and that is our exit poll and how the results have fed. at the beginning of the night, we were very nervous when we stood here saying we expected the conservative to be the largest hearty but only on about 314 seats. and this is where we end the night. and this is where we end the night. and it is a very similar pattern. you can see how closely they telling. very interesting, emily. just to underline the snp and lib

dem performances. we are expecting nicola sturgeon to say something within a few minutes. and when it happens, we will be there. that is the scene in edinburgh. andy, what do you expect on this one? well, i would be very surprised if she resigns. you always wonder at this stage of the game, is that what going to happen? i suspect the snp will announce an emergency panda breeding programme! the old story about there being more pandas in scotla nd about there being more pandas in scotland and tory mps! and that is the liberal club, i think, scotland and tory mps! and that is the liberal club, ithink, in whitehall. tim farron, also to make a statement, we expect, in five minutes or so. let‘sjoin a statement, we expect, in five

minutes or so. let‘s join andy at westminster. but if we get nicola sturgeon or tim farron, we will come back to them straightaway. of course. hearing westminster, i am joined by toast and bell, former adviser to ed miliband, helen lewis of the new statesman and andrew jameson of the website conservative home. the prime minister is off to see the queen, i think she thinks she has got the dup in the bag and she has got the dup in the bag and she will be telling the queen that probably she would like to form a governmentjuggle what happens next? actually, in some ways, complicated as this seems, it is quite simple. we have spent seven weeks having an election campaign, and what theresa may has done is to lose 12 on select mps, and to gain ten dup mps, and to carry on with a slightly smaller majority. that looks pretty much like where we are going. so in the short term, the situation is quite clear, she‘s going to try and carry on. beyond that, though, everything

is upforgrabs. on. beyond that, though, everything is up for grabs. what happens within the tory party, what the dup asks for, and how long she can last. can she get away with that?” for, and how long she can last. can she get away with that? i don't think she can for long. how many of those things from the conservative manifesto can she get cross—party support on? social care is kind of interesting because there was labour support for a slightly different package, she can cobble something together on that. but even something like the pensions triple lock, there is no way you would get that past now. it all sounds a bit the opposite of stable and strong, it sounds weak and unstable. opposite of stable and strong, it sounds weak and unstablem opposite of stable and strong, it sounds weak and unstable. it does, and that is one of the things which has historically made parliament the guarantee of our liberties, there can bea guarantee of our liberties, there can be a general election at any point, and the one thing the tories will not want to do is to fight another general election under the

leadership of theresa may. you're the second person that has said that to me this morning. they are so disgusted, is that right, by the campaign and how she has handled it, they will not let her do this again? it was all her right ear, or her and her tight—knit... it was all her right ear, or her and her tight—knit. .. it was it was all her right ear, or her and her tight—knit... it was a complete surprised it took everyone by surprise. —— it was all her idea. she has lost the trust of the tory party. you were careful to stress, in the short term, she may get her way on this, but it could unravel. but with the fixed term parliaments act, if it unravels, it does not necessarily mean an election again, it could mean that this is an interim stage, and mr corbyn may have a chance of forming a minority government? so, she has a chance to government? so, she has a chance to go to the palace, it looks like she will try and form a government today, with the dup, she can do that, and then she can try and pass a queen's speech in about two weeks' time. if the dup pull out of the deal, or for some reason she cannot pass queen's speech, then history

would teach us that the queen would call on the leader of the opposition to try and form a government. but he himself would need the dup to pass a programme. who does not need a coalition with them, but he would need the lib dems can the snp and the dup to pass a queen's speech. without that, we are heading for another election. what do you make of that, helen? they are not in a position to cobble together at the grandest of coalitions. i think we are about to hear from coalitions. i think we are about to hearfrom tim farron, leader of the liberal democrats, he‘s not said much since the result. not been a great night for them, barely took a seat. let‘s hear what he has to say. applause thank you for being here, i am the member of parliament for oxford west and abingdon. cheering that felt good to say! it‘s been the

most extraordinary 24 hours because this time, was yesterday or the day before, i cannot remember, tim was in oxford having the final rally of the campaign, we were there with all of the activists saying knock on doors until the end and we did and we won by a tiny majority but what that no means is that oxford west and abingdon is represented again by liberal values and that is what it is all about. applause this is my first engagement as a member of parliament and it‘s with great pleasure to know handover to the man who made it all possible, our leader, tim farron! cheering

applause thank you, thank you. thank you, it was less than 48 hours ago wasn't it, at oxford united's ground where we rallied the troops and as people to work their hardest for the final push. you did and we got the result. i am enormously grateful to all of you and very proud to welcome you to the national liberal club. this was the hardest elections marred by the tragedy of those two vile terrorist attacks in manchester and london. and now the future of our country is less certain than it was when theresa may called the selection a month and a half ago. for the liberal democrats we have made progress in incredibly difficult circumstances and we face

a new parliament in a far stronger position than we left the last one. lam position than we left the last one. i am delighted to welcome back some old friends, joe swenson, vince cable, ed davey, and they of course are bolstering the ranks with those figures who have served our country in government. we will now be able to put their talent and experience to put their talent and experience to shaping what comes next. in stephen lloyd we welcome back a force of nature, a brilliant campaignerand a loyal force of nature, a brilliant campaigner and a loyal servant to his constituents. alongside alistair carmichael, norman lamb and tom brake, they are returning to a formidable team. but i am also incredibly proud to welcome new faces to our ranks, christine jardine, vera hobhouse, leila moran and jamie stone, fantastic campaigners who will be fantastic

for their constituents and our country as a whole. i am not just proud that our party is bigger but also that it's more diverse. at the 2015 election we will eight seats, all represented by white men. we are not yet at the point where our party fully reflect diversity of our great country but we have made real progress. while we have made great gains we have also lost colleagues who will be sorely missed. nick clegg is a giant british politics, a friend and a hero to me and countless others, not only did he read our party into government for the first time in generations he did so the first time in generations he did so in the most difficult of circumstances and for the most noble of reasons. our party played the lead back paid a political price for

joining that coalition government but it is nothing to the price our country would have paid had nick not shown the steel and determination to do the right thing when it was needed most. applause in 2010 our country was on the edge ofa in 2010 our country was on the edge of a precipice. because of nick clegg it survived and flourished. the pupil premium which has helped so the pupil premium which has helped so many children get the start in life they deserve would not have happened without nick clegg, same—sex marriage would not have happened without nick clegg, the children of asylum seekers would have remained behind bars without nick clegg. the raising of the income tax threshold which has helped millions of people on low and middle incomes would not have

happened without nick clegg. i could stand here and keep listing his achievements but it would take hours. people say they want politicians to put their differences aside and put the country first. nick clegg did that. have no doubt, history will be kind to nick and the new parliament will be immensely poor without the inside, expertise and passion he brings especially to the brexit debate. we also say goodbye to greg mulholland, mark williams and sarah olney. greg has beena williams and sarah olney. greg has been a brilliant, dedicated and determined campaigner and loyal servant. mark a powerful voice for rural communities everywhere and sarah, in hera rural communities everywhere and sarah, in her a few short months in parliament, showed she had the makings of a brilliant mp, she was a brilliant mp and a real star of the party's future. our parliament is

worse off without them and i am certain that if they want to, greg, mark and sarah can return to our ranks in the future. theresa may called the selection expecting it to bea called the selection expecting it to be a coronation. she took each and every be a coronation. she took each and eve ry one be a coronation. she took each and every one of us for granted in the most cynical way possible, like david cameron before her, an conservative prime minister rolled the dice and put the future of our country at risk out of sheer arrogance and vanity. and now in her diminished state she reaches out to the right to form her own coalition of chaos. theresa may has done the opposite of what nick clegg dead, she put her party before her country, she has been found out, she should be ashamed. applause bull we will now have a government

thatis bull we will now have a government that is weaker and less stable at the time we are about to embark on the time we are about to embark on the most difficult and complex negotiations in our history. the most difficult and complex negotiations in our history! theresa may promised strong and sta ble theresa may promised strong and stable leadership, she has brought weakness and uncertainty. if she has an ounce of self—respect she will resign. applause the tories have taken our country for granted too many times. whatever happens in this coming parliament, the liberal democrats will fight for you, your family the liberal democrats will fight for you, yourfamily and the liberal democrats will fight for you, your family and your community. and if theresa may are any other conservative approaches the liberal democrats and asks for our support to deliver their agenda let me make our position clear. no deal is better than a bad deal. applause laughter bull there will be no deals, no

coalitions, no confidence and supply arrangements. if the government puts arrangements. if the government puts a queen '5 speech to parliament or a budget in front of us we willjudge it on whether or not we think it is good for the country and if it is and we will not support it. this parliament faces a challenge greater than any for generations. brexit. and yet both the conservatives and labour went to great lengths to make sure this election was about anything but. there are plans are paper thin. there are ambition built on little more than platitudes. now they must play their cards on the table. brexit is about to get very real. the phoney war is almost over. its consequences will be felt by every single person in this country. the one thing that is clear from this result of the election is the

mandate theresa may sought for her extreme version of brexit has been rejected by the british people. applause it is simply inconceivable that the prime minister can it is simply inconceivable that the prime ministercan begin it is simply inconceivable that the prime minister can begin the brexit negotiations injust two prime minister can begin the brexit negotiations in just two weeks' time. she should consider future and then, for once, she should consider then, for once, she should consider the future of our country. the negotiations should be put on hold until the government has reassessed its priorities and set them out to the british public. the british people have the right to expect that our prime minister will explain to them what it is that she to achieve. my party, all of us here, have always been proudly pro—european. we believe is much today as we ever

have had we are stronger, safer and more prosperous. . . have had we are stronger, safer and more prosperous... already very clear, the conservatives have lost their majority and the prime minister has lost all authority and credibility. in scotland the snp won this election, we have more seats than all of the other parties combined and i want today thank those who have once again paster trust in the snp. we will endeavour every single day to repay that trust. as we said throughout the campaign, snp mp‘s will be strong voices for scotland, standing up for our country‘s interest and working to make scotland the very best country it can be. however it‘s an inescapable fact that we also suffered some bitterly disappointing losses last night. i want to pay tribute to all of the snp candidates

who campaigned so hard but who will not be returning to westminster. in particular i want to pay tribute to angus robertson, a politician and parliamentarian of immense stature. week after week he held the prime minister to account, providing the scrutiny the official opposition in the house of commons failed to do. and i want to also make a particular mention of alex salmond, my friend and mentorfor almost mention of alex salmond, my friend and mentor for almost 30 years. without a shadow of a boat, the giant of modern scottish politics. someone who has devoted his life serving this country. both angus and alex and all of the other defeated candidates still have so much to offer public life and i very much look forward their continuing contributions. in 2015 the snp

achieved an exceptional, perhaps once ina achieved an exceptional, perhaps once in a century result. traditionally in westminster elections the snp is squeezed by the main uk parties, indeed in this campaign we have seen the return of a dominant two party system in england. this makes the snp‘s achievement of winning a clear majority of seats in scotland all the more remarkable. however, as we do after all elections, we will reflect on these results, we will listen to voters, and we will consider very careful the best way forward for scotland, a way forward thatis forward for scotland, a way forward that is in the interest of all of scotland. i will take the opportunity of seeing more on that front in the days to come. the snp will also seek to play arvo part in finding the right way forward for all of the uk. the snp for the selection warning against the consequences of continued tory government. they will hate living

standards and widening inequality and force many more children into property. we will now work with others to do everything we can to prevent that happening and to bring an end to the austerity voters the length and breadth of the uk are no longer prepared to accept. we will work with others if it is at all possible to keep the tories out of government. we have always said we would work in alliance with others to promote progressive policies to build a fairer country. we stand ready to play our part in that alliance. it is needed now more than ever. the damage the tories have done to the stability and reputation of the uk cannot be overstated. in less tha n of the uk cannot be overstated. in less than one year they have caused chaos on an industrial scale. they recklessly forced through an eu referendum and then embarked on a disastrous brexit strategy, deciding to re m ove disastrous brexit strategy, deciding to remove scotland and the uk from the single market with no idea and

no plan for what would come next. they then called an election knowing the result would be declared just 11 days, less than two weeks before the most important negotiations in the uk's most important negotiations in the uk‘s modern history were due to start. they were so arrogantly thought they could do anything and get away with it. now they are planning to cobble together an u nsta ble planning to cobble together an unstable administration causing yet more damaging uncertainty. all of this because they have consistently put the interests of the tory party ahead of the interests of the country. and what is perhaps more breathtaking of all, is that this is a party that has the temerity to accuse others of causing division and uncertainty. it simply cannot go on. instead there must now be an attempt to find consensus and to bring people together. last night has shown the reckless tory pursuit ofa has shown the reckless tory pursuit of a hard brexit must be abandoned.

the clock on the article 50 negotiations is ticking, it‘s no longer acceptable to proceed without a coherent plan. i am appealing to mps from all parties to join together to keep the uk and scotland in the european single market. by doing so we can protectjobs and preserve our relationship with europe and bring order to these negotiations. finally let me say this directly to the people of scotland. in the coming weeks and months ahead the scottish government will continue to provide the stable effective government our country needs. amongst our other priorities we will carry on with our reforms to education, support our nhs to meet the challenges of rising demand and ta ke the challenges of rising demand and take the next steps in building a new social security system with dignity at its heart. as first minister it‘s myjob and my duty to govern in the interests of everybody in scotland. i know that in these times that is more important than ever. and it‘s exactly what i and my

government will work to deliver. i will now take a couple of questions. do you accept this result inaudible isaidi do you accept this result inaudible i said i will reflect carefully on this result... nicola sturgeon giving her response was some heavy criticism of theresa may‘s conservatives and the outcome of this election which is a hung parliament. we expect the prime minister to leave downing street in the next few minutes to take the short journey to buckingham the next few minutes to take the shortjourney to buckingham palace foran shortjourney to buckingham palace for an audience with her majesty the queen and we expect her to share the plans she has which are to continue in government as prime minister with the conservatives depending on ten votes from the democratic unionist party in northern ireland to control a very small, barely a majority in

the house of commons. it‘s a very sunny day at this point down in westminster, andrew marr, at this point what are we thinking in terms of the sequence of events we are now reporting? already one of the queen ‘s senior aides is in the cabinet office so those conversations have started, when theresa may arrives at the palace she will have a direct conversation i would imagine what the queen, very direct and pertinent questions. it will not be a simple smiley formal quick meeting, it will be interesting. i would love to be a fly on the wall. there will be nobody else there, just the two of them, it's usually about half an hour, 45 minutes. she does not need to be reappointed because she has not been an appointed but no doubt she will want to advise the queen who might be coming in, the plans and all the rest of it. there is a

choreography to all of this, a convention and courtesy. there is convention and courtesy. there is convention but then it will be straight to work and straight into what are going to be pretty difficult times for theresa may in terms of forming that government, getting the personnel correctly and place. we heard from nicola sturgeon, she would join any sort of alliance to keep the tories out. that is consistent with what she has said and also she says the snp will reflect on the results and listen to vote rs carefully reflect on the results and listen to voters carefully for the way forward for scotland which i think is called for scotland which i think is called for the independence referendum is out. laura kuenssberg is in westminster at downing street keeping an eye on things, final preparations being made? that is right, herfolder of preparations being made? that is right, her folder of documents containing her plans for keeping her government going to have been put into the car, her bag and things as

well. it feels like this departure is very imminent. this will be the first glimpse of theresa may we have had since her plans went so arrived. the doors opening and here she comes. is this strong stable prime minister? theresa may accompanied by her husband and off to the palace. just 12 hours ago this journey she never thought she would have to make as they exit poll came in last night, in tory hq they did not believe it, they were scratching their heads wondering how their numbers could be so different. of course orally subsequent hours the exit polls numbers come out rather than the conservatives numbers, were the ones which came true with an accurate picture of the fact theresa may‘s political gamble has gone so arrived for the conservative party.

the gates of downing street being closed. on her way to the palace to have discussions which are her political nightmare rather than the dream of the first proper conservative majority in 30 years that she believed and hoped she was on the verge of achieving. theresa may travelling along whitehall, past horse guards arch up towards trafalgar square and then probably down towards the palace. add at the other end, waiting for the arrival of the prime minister and to tell us more about what is likely to happen, nicholas witchell. good afternoon, 11 months since theresa may came to buckingham palace to be asked by the queen to form a government, that after the resignation of david cameron. it was on the 13th ofjuly 2016 theresa may was asked by the queen to form a government. now 11

months later and certainly not in the circumstances she would have wished for are envisaged, still in a position to form a government backed as we are saying, within a hung parliament and no longer in a position, no longer the head of the largest party. the vehicle making its way down the mall, metropolitan police escorting, shortly will be turning around the victoria memorial and on to buckingham palace. a good number of tourists here who have been watching the changing of the guard ceremony, tight security, large number of police around as you might imagine. theresa may, when she gets into the private audience room and it will as andrew marr and peter hennessy have been saying, it will be just theresa may and the queen in that audience and the vital question is are you in a position to command

the confidence of the house of commons? she is the leader of the largest party and one must assume she is now in a position to and saw that question in the affirmative. the convoy sweeping in the gates, crowds, mostly tourists, who have recognised something unusual is happening, notjust recognised something unusual is happening, not just changing recognised something unusual is happening, notjust changing of the guard that something of constitutional significance, going across the forecourt and in a moment we will see the car entering into the central quadrangle. the critical question is whether she is in a position to tell the queen that she now believes she can command the confidence of the house of commons. she will go up to the queen ‘s private audience written where we shall meet the queen every wednesday evening for the prime minister‘s audience. and i again say, as your

guests audience. and i again say, as your gu ests have audience. and i again say, as your guests have been saying, it is an audience on the she attends. her husband will be taken into another room by the queen ‘s private secretary who this morning has been seen secretary who this morning has been seen at the cabinet office. it is his responsibility on occasions such as this to coordinate closely between buckingham palace and whitehall. a little unclear from that shot where the car is but it will be pulling up at the king ‘s entrance as it is known where the prime minister will be greeted and escorted. these audiences on pat occasions, they can go from 20 minutes to perhaps 40 minutes, some of them lasting a significant amount of them lasting a significant amount of time. but the queen will want to

know what theresa may‘s plans are now, to form a government. it is a reappointment, none of the kissing of hands, there we are, the limousine drawn up at the king ‘s entrance. looks as though the prime minister has already gone in. she will be on our way up to the audience room for this audience with the queen. the 13th person to hold the queen. the 13th person to hold the office of prime minister during this long reign of elizabeth ii. more interesting than many of those audiences but within the next few minutes the queen will be asking that essential question, are you, theresa may, in position to form a government and the answer clearly will be yes based on what we understand that the moment, and the queen will invite theresa may to form a government. and that is all

there is. there is no off, no handing over of seals, it‘sjust there is. there is no off, no handing over of seals, it‘s just a question, and answer and then add a question, and answer and then add a quest to form a government. i‘m sure the queen will be asking how are you going to do this, how do you view the prospects of forming a stable government as the other profoundly important issues theresa may will face amid greater uncertainty than she would have wished for at this point, but after that private conversation between the queen and theresa may one would imagine philip may would be invited for a few moments final conversation before the prime minister leaves the palace and makes her way back to downing street. thank you for now, we will be back with you, isn‘t that a magnificent sight? all the greenery of green park and stjames‘ park and indeed the gardens are buckingham palace, and the mall leading straight up to admiralty arch and

the queen victoria memorial near the canada gate where nicholas witchell was talking to us from. the prime minister already inside the palace and the audience probably has already started, peter hennessy, as someone already started, peter hennessy, as someone who has witnessed and written about a lot of similar processes , written about a lot of similar processes, you reckon on average, half an hour? yes, half an hour, 40 minutes. i have not witnessed one of these, but i live in hope! witnessed indirectly! if it is half an hour, it‘s a simple matter of can you command the confidence of the commons, to what extent will the queen push in terms of what has happened and what is going to happen and what is likely to happen? the queen has a mixture of curiosity and experience and she‘s very soothing. every prime minister talks about how she has this soothing effect particularly at times of trouble. i

remember a private secretary saying she has a tonic effect, you go in fuel in one way and come out on the balls of your feet and i think theresa may will be needing some that. the queen has always loved political gossip, reading letters which come every week and she says things to by minister's, it's not going to be a bland conversation. the euphemism is going to be what is going on and what is going to happen? prime minister, what have you done and why? yes, and can you explain it to me? and then i presume theresa may will have to start ringing around her cabinet and saying you have still got a job you have not got a job because otherwise they are going to be sitting and waiting and they do not want to have any sort of political vacuum of any kind. she needs to be able to say do

i have your confidence, and support? what has been really interesting is they are seeing this morning, where is borisjohnson? they are seeing this morning, where is boris johnson? michael gough? philip hammond? if there was a plot developing against her they would be out making coded statements and they are not. which is why, i think if they are not going to go forward and challenge that anything they say or do will be misconstrued. we could have a brief look in a few moments time, a big division at the top of the party in what went wrong. the postmortem will start, some think it was down to the manifesto which we have talked about, the social care policy and the u—turn. others say it was about a negative campaign. those discussions will be going on amongst tory mps. i think they should add over tory mps. i think they should add over controlling to the list perhaps. robotic. that was one of

the big problems. there used to be our conventional wisdom that the campaign did not make much difference, but do not believe that any more. both the reverse cases. people have usually made their mind up people have usually made their mind up about the leaders before they get into a up about the leaders before they get intoa campaign, up about the leaders before they get into a campaign, don't see that much changing but in this case that convention has not been followed. lucas for viewers just joining lucas for viewersjustjoining us, we‘re seven that the prime minister would not be visiting the palace at this point if she were not very confident of having secured some kind of understanding with the dup. i think she would, as a matter of courtesy, to report to the sovereign. that is what normally happens. even if she had to, but i suspect she will not have to do this. not to do what ted heath did, which is to say, i will spend the weekend doing a deal. the queen has a right to be informed. i‘ve never

been anywhere near all of this and there are no minutes. george v and george vi tended to try up so they had to queue cards and that is the only evidence you have. the queen, i gather, asks rather good questions. they are not coached in, why on earth did you do it at why? not at all. i remember one of the heads of the secret agency saying to me, when igo and the secret agency saying to me, when i go and see her, she asks me much more penetrating questions than any of my secretaries of state. she has a reputation of getting to the point frequently. at the time of the financial crash, she was overheard asking some of the key city people, why did you not see this coming? then she summoned the governor of the bank and i think it was the first time he had this specific

audience so the curiosity is unbounded. experience is extraordinary. you have made the point that she would go as a courtesy, even if possibly she had not had a sufficient understanding with the dup but this opens up a new thing. the prime minister returns to downing street and it would be extremely odd if the prime minister did not say something in downing street when she returns. i would be surprised. what do we then expect? what with the message be? she has to tell as indirect terms, i have two form a government, i have been talking to the dup, i believe we can give britain, whether she says strong or stable, who knows? surely not. brexit will remain my priority andi not. brexit will remain my priority and i will be reshuffling my cabinet over the next day or something like that. the reckon was in 1950. they we re that. the reckon was in 1950. they were all waiting at number ten after

he came back from seeing the king. it could very well be short and sweet in that sense because otherwise she will have to get into the realms of what went wrong. she will have two, in some sense, if she comes out onto the streets of downing street, see in her own words what she did think went wrong and the mistake of calling a snap election and it may be better to just stick very much to a well—defined script which says, i am here, i'm still prime minister, i've seen here, i'm still prime minister, i've seen the queen and i will have a cabinet in place, goodbye.“ seen the queen and i will have a cabinet in place, goodbye. if there is any choice as to between, do i speak out on this occasion or not, theresa may has not. the only possibility of not saying anything, she takes it, so we will see what happens. if she goes for a big speech, it will be the most difficult of her life. cabinet in place, clearly, do we think at this point that some called already?

philip hammond does need to know whether he is remaining as chancellor of the exchequer. boris johnson needs to know as foreign secretary. david davis and in that key role of leading the brexit negotiations. i think it will have been calls and soundings done. otherwise, it is the point about convention. if she really felt it was not going to be held together, i don't think she would have made that trip. some of those key cabinet ministers have already been in to see her and have had face—to—face meetings already this morning. probably through a back door entrance. all the cameras. an amazing 20 format hours. we have not had a tweet from donald trump either. there is still time. the royal standard signalling that the queen is in residence at buckingham

palace and it is a very busy time for the royalfamily palace and it is a very busy time for the royal family at the moment. we are looking ahead to the queen‘s birthday parade a week from tomorrow and the state opening of parliament which takes place a couple of days later on monday 19th ofjune, so an incredibly busy time. i mention the state opening, this timetable, to get a queen ‘s speech, a meaningful speech in place, with a partner in government, albeit in informal partner, that is a tall order? this isa partner, that is a tall order? this is a very short gap. i gather it is going to be a casual. no frills. it is going to be far less ceremony and pageantry is going to be far less ceremony and pagea ntry than usual. is going to be far less ceremony and pageantry than usual. which is a pity because i like a bit of flaunting. it is going to be dressed down. but also surprisingly, a short

speech because if she has to agree everything with the dup, there‘s not a lot she can put into it at this stage. there will be talks about foreign affairs and getting on with brexit, but i don‘t think there will be much legislation and relatively few promises. be much legislation and relatively add 9 mike “54.329 is brin our " ,. royal correspondent in. i am just wondering, how long do you think we‘ve had already in this audience? i make it about 12 minutes. she went in, we didn‘t actually see her step across the threshold but it was about 11 —— 12, 25. we are 12 minutes into this audience. again, i imagine it would be around half an hour. serious business to be discussed and as you have been saying, soothing though the occasion may be for a prime minister on what

honours particular occasion, but this particular prime minister must bea this particular prime minister must be a extremely difficult day, she is still having to answer those very pointed questions which the queen is certainly very capable of directing at her. i am quite sure that it will perhaps be the first occasion when theresa may is able to explore with someone theresa may is able to explore with someone outside her immediate circle, what did, from your point if you, go wrong? what do you think has happened and what are you going to do now and how are you going to do with the verbal challenges, most particularly brexit? the queen, as she always is, will be closely interested in those answers because she maintainsa interested in those answers because she maintains a close interest. she has this vast experience stretching back now for these 63, 64 years across the 12 other prime ministers with him she has dealt. so, she will

perhaps be able to offer that little bit of cunning to a prime minister who is facing very considerable challenges within her own party, within parliament and within europe, of dealing with brexit. queen of course, there is the business of state to be handled today. she will then be going to insert and one other event that will be in her horizon and that is tomorrow, the 96th birthday of her husband, the duke of edinburgh, so they will be celebrating that family event down at windsor. the apparatus of ceremonial london and the significant events trooping the colour, the queen‘s birthday parade taking place a week tomorrow, followed two days later by the state opening of parliament, which again will be non—ceremonial, not least because after trooping the colour on saturday the 17th, it has been concluded that the footguards and horse guards will not have the

opportunity to rehearse for the state opening and that is one of the reasons why on this occasion it is being done in this non—ceremonial way. so, we can see this aerial shot at buckingham palace and you can see that the crowds have certainly send from the front of the palace. there we re from the front of the palace. there were considerable crowds, as there are were considerable crowds, as there a re every were considerable crowds, as there are every day at this time of the year. they have been watching the changing of the guard and they have largely dispersed, but there are some left and particularly clustered around that north centre gate which is the way in which visitors generally go in, across the forecourt and in. so we are now, i would say we are about 15 minutes in to this audience so far, so perhaps another 15 minutes to go. let's go back to downing street because i think they are preparing their for a

prime minister real statement. there we are, electro and, the podium is in place. in its usual placejust outside the door of number ten so at least we now know there will be a statement, as we expected. we have talked about that and if you just remember, just think back a few weeks ago, the last time we saw this unexpectedly outside number ten was when theresa may came to announce the snap election. the one that she said she would never call. i will not call a snap election, she said. i cannot tell you the rush and fury around newsrooms when we saw that podium. it was not a prime minister real one at that stage, it was the party and that is what led to us thinking, this is going to be a call for a snap election. let's stay on this because my next contribution here is rather relevant as we look at the door of number ten. george

osborne, editor of the london evening standard, has written this in his editorial today, talking about this notion of confidence and simply, about this notion of confidence and supply, the technical term for the democratic unionists supporting the conservatives. he says, the confidence in her leadership is precisely what the british people failed to give her and supply the main london taxpayers sending yet more money to northern ireland in this topsy—turvy world, decisions that affect london will be taken in belfast. he is not pulling any punches? he is not, he's having a lovely time. he is one of the people who i think has been caught by surprise by the events of the last few weeks and months. here is somebody, had he stayed in the house of commons, he would be talking about george osborne as a future conservative leader. he got out, just as ruth davidson is in the wrong place if she wants to be leader of the conservative party in the uk. david miliband, on the wrong

continent. that is politics for you. if you look down in his editorial, he says, that is not a sustainable position and the paper was subjected to close scrutiny. the others who will be scrutinised by the dup themselves. you will note that in those minority governments, the people who i then seemed to be propping up a government come under enormous scrutiny as to their policies. paul waugh enormous scrutiny as to their policies. paulwaugh of enormous scrutiny as to their policies. paul waugh of the huffington post says, my early tip last night about labour taking kensington is right. the tories have now written it off, labour was ahead by more than 20 builds on the second recount. quite astonishing. that is a real turn up. talking about topsy—turvy, kensington goes labour! they will be quite rightly hailing that as a great big tree. -- a great victory. if that is the case, they

will be claiming that as a big victory. let's go to laura in downing street. some thoughts on what the prime minister will need to do in this statement that she will deliver within the next 15 minutes orso? deliver within the next 15 minutes or so? i think she has to strike a very different tone and are very different opposed to when is a glimpse of her at her maidenhead count in the early hours of this morning. at that stage, she looked visibly shocked and hurting from the results and the expectations the tories had been turned on their head. if this is the work and if she is to be able to stay for a dignified period of time, she needs to walk back in here and look like she is in charge of the moment. she is not of course in charge of a majority but she needs to come back here and look like a prime minister that she has just told the queen she hopes to be in terms of forming a government. it is not that long ago since we had the former coalition in

2010 and at that stage, even though david cameron never had a majority then, even though he had to rely hugely on the liberal democrats, his supporters at the time would say he looked the part, he always looked confident, he made that what he described at the time and open and expansive offer to the liberal democrats and with confidence, strode into a very different era of politics. theresa may has two, to reassure her own party and to stop this sniping about this terrible result, she has to come back and look like she is in charge. given the personal defeat but this is for her, although she of course is the leader of the largest party, that is quite some task. andrew, your thoughts at this point? the big unknown in all of this is that we do not know the nature of the deal the prime minister has done with the

dup. we know it is not a formal coalition, of the sort that mr cameron had with mr clegg and the lib dems but we know there is some kind of deal that has been done. we do not know what she has given away agreed to. nor do we know either, mrs may will now be seen as a diminished figure in british politics. some may be even the walking wounded. several conservatives have said to me this morning that they do not see her running another election campaign, that they will not let her run another election campaign after what has happened so as they scramble to put together a minority government ora put together a minority government or a government that can survive, the future is still very uncertain for this conservative government.

nick witchel, i‘m just wondering now whether things are now, i‘m seeing some staff in the courtyard and i‘m just thinking that if we may be getting to the point where theresa may‘s departure could be imminent? getting to the point where theresa may's departure could be imminent?” would think not for the next few minutes. we are looking at one of the escort vehicle. if you look to the escort vehicle. if you look to the left of the picture, you can see one of the footmen who is looking out of the left—hand side of the screen so out of the left—hand side of the screen so the prime minister‘s car is on the left of the screen so they arejust standing is on the left of the screen so they are just standing there, ready to open the door when she does come out. we have been trying to see whether the motorcyclists who were in the outer forecourt at buckingham palace, they don‘t seem to be starting up yet so we are about 22 minutes. well, now there is the wing commander so it looks as though you

could be right and he is looking as though he is expecting somebody to emerge and there we are. the prime minister just emerge and there we are. the prime ministerjust emerging there after an audience of 20 words or so. theresa may has been to have the audience with her majesty, the queen. now that she is facing a hung parliament, she has lost her parliamentary literacy but she is intending to carry on as prime minister, head of the conservative administration, with help and support on a vote to vote basis, we think, but in any formal grounds, with the democratic unionist party of northern ireland. we have no idea what kind of deal has been struck, no idea what kind of assurances have been given and we have no idea indeed the basis of which any agreement has been made. maybe she will shed light on that when she gets back to banning street because ina human gets back to banning street because in a human is, she will be outside the door of number ten and will need

to deliver a message which will convince people and reassure people. yes, she will, absolutely. as laura was saying, it is all about demeanour. it is about the way she presents herself. she is back as prime minister, if she wants to carry on, she leaves the look and sound like a prime minister. but the one side or the self—doubt and the shock of the night and come out fighting. it will be very interesting to see if she can deliver that kind of speech. she is a much less practised bigger than the likes of david cameron or tony blair. can she raised her game rhetorically and in terms of demeanour? she is not known for being agile, we know that from her performances at prime minister's questions and some may argue the fa ct questions and some may argue the fact that she did not take part in the tv debates was another example of her perhaps shying away from having to think on her feet in that

sort of way. she likes to be in the arena of having preprepared statements and messages. she will have had some time to think about this particularly if it is a lot of short. she is big into the market, she is speaking to the tory party. the swing boaters, mps, critical members. authority will count a lot. in human terms, she must be worn out because it is bad enough in the election if it goes well, people are exacted but when you have these succession of shocks, in terms of unity, we can only sympathise. labourgain unity, we can only sympathise. labour gain kensington, it has been confirmed, so that is a game for them. the prime minister's car now into trafalgar square, turning left, down into whitehall. making its way

down into whitehall. making its way down the past lots of the big government offices down there. past the wales of us and the scotla nd past the wales of us and the scotland office, of course. then the ministry of defence on the left. then very soon, turning right into downing street. i think what we will see there is a prime minister emerging from the car and making that statement straightaway before she gets back into downing street to make the calls about the formation of the new government. laura is in downing street for us. she isjust arriving. she is, i can see the motorcycle outriders. here comes the jaguar car containing the prime minister. we expect theresa may is

about to confirm that she will stay on as prime minister with some arrangement with the dup. not the scenario that she had dreamt of, not the scenario that she hoped for as she exits the car with her husband. the door being opened for her. putting a rather grim face on it as she gets out of the car and walks to the podium. of course, only seven weeks and she stood there and announced a snap election, the election that she had said would not happen, the election that she changed her mind about and how any human being in her position must regret that decision, one can only imagine, but here she is, theresa may. i have just imagine, but here she is, theresa may. i havejust been imagine, but here she is, theresa may. i have just been to see her majesty, the queen. i will now form a government. a government that can provide a certainty and lead britain forward at this critical time for

our country. this government will guide the country through the crucial brexit talks that begin in just ten days. and deliver on the will of the british people i taking the united kingdom out of the european union. it will work to keep our nation safe and secure by delivering the change that i set out following the appalling attacks in manchester and london. cracking down on the ideology of islamist extremism and all those who support it. and giving the police and the authorities the powers they need to keep our country safe. the government i lead will put fairness and opportunity at the heart of everything we do. so that we will fulfil the promise of brexit together and, over the next five years, build a country in which no

one and no community is left behind. a country in which prosperity and opportunity are shared right across this united kingdom. what the country needs more than ever is certainty and having secured the largest number of votes and the greatest number of seats in the general election, it is clear that only the conservative and unionist parties has the decency and ability to provide that certainty by commanding a majority in the house of commons. as we do, we will continue to work with our friends and allies in the democratic unionist party in particular. 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. this will allow us to come together as a

country and channel our energies towards a successful brexit deal that works for everyone in this country. securing a new partnership with the eu, which guarantees our long—term prosperity. that is what people voted for last june, that long—term prosperity. that is what people voted for lastjune, that is what we will deliver. now, let us get to work. the prime minister makes a brief statement on the threshold of downing street and really, trying to make out that it is business as usual. i got the most important was that she was carrying on the brexit negotiations as planned so she has heard all these voices from the continent saying, let us delay things, she is saying, no, we will go ahead on the original timetable which strongly suggests that david davis remains as brexit secretary. the rest of it is

repeating campaign slogans, very unspecific but of course that references to the conservative and unionist, that was a pointed reference. that is a recognition of the situation she now finds herself in. she said it in a way that i thought she was trying to say to everybody, that is a very natural thing. a natural fit to have the conservatives and the dup together in these brexit negotiations going forward and the government i am going to lead. not even the most glancing reference to what happened in the campaign. as we said before, if you keep it short and if you keep it to the point, then you just look ahead. she must have said certainty at least half a dozen times. but even a dancing reference to the performance. now, it has played to her strengths and that is her strength, she always says, i get on with what is put in front of me.

this is, let's get to work. that will be her new trademark. it was brave and quite impressive. fairness and opportunity echoes the first speech she made at the time. people will make of that what they will. fairness and opportunity for the whole community, working for eve ryone , whole community, working for everyone, although statements that she made when she stood there on the streets of downing street. let's go to downing street and took the law. what did you make of that?l to downing street and took the law. what did you make of that? a pretty grim faced theresa may. emphasising that words she used throughout the campaign, certainty. but giving us any more details of how she would work with the dup. she said we will continue to work with our friends and allies, suggesting that as we expected, the arrangement between them will be very, very lives, nothing formal at all. one wonders therefore if in a rough and tumble of the next few months, perhaps even the next few weeks, how the bonds

between those two parties may be tested but i think in terms of getting back her composure, certainly that was a very different theresa may to the one we saw standing at her count in maidenhead when she looked so almost broken by the result is the picture was emerging overnight but no question, she may have walked back in as prime minister but she walked back into an attempt, a diminished figure, a politically damaged figure. still prime minister but for quite how long? given that we are talking about her status and position as prime minister, just a thought on the saturn ‘s events and how soon you think we will be in a position to hear theresa may confirming who is in and out of the cabinet?” think that any plans she may have had for a bold reshuffle, leaving her neighbour out of number 11 or making big switches around in her top team, i would expect, and i

would expect she would be encouraged against making any big changes because her diminished stature of course gives more power to the rest of the people around the cabinet table because she needs their backing. it has been conspicuous this morning that whether by accident or by design, and i suspect it is bubbly and other by design, we have not seen the cabinet ministers coming to her defence publicly. we have had silence instead. some have been talking privately and they did rally around her but they have not put a ring of steel around theresa may and she, i expect, will have two, or will be called on to change her style, to expand her circle, to rely on or people and that, i think, will have an impact on the scale of her reshuffle. we may well find that all she does is replace those who have lost their jobs all she does is replace those who have lost theirjobs with people who are further down the ranks. don‘t

forget overnight she lost eight ministers, only one cabinet minister who was the minister in charge of automating the manifesto, the ma nifesto automating the manifesto, the manifesto that for many people appears to have been such a part of the root of all of the tories disaster overnight. quite a strange situation she ends, the leader of the biggest party, the leader of the biggest share of the votes, but so diminished by the decision of the british people. they did not like what they saw. we're looking at a house of commons that will look very different, it will have a different character. what are your thoughts on how that house will conduct itself in the months to come? it will be fascinating to see, how willjeremy corbyn respond to his new—found strength? will he reach out to some of those prominent critics of his, that many of them have real experience on the front bench? will be strengthened himself in that way.

how will the snp behave without their very prominent leader. angus robertson, one of the biggest scalps of the night. i think we are in for all sorts of interesting developments as the political rubiks cube turns around with all sorts of new faces and new patterns emerging. one thing! new faces and new patterns emerging. one thing i would say, it is not going to be straightforward. thank you laura kuenssberg, the one o‘clock news will follow shortly with sophie ray worth, just a few more minutes for us to really underline the magnitude of what happened overnight, and that‘s been underlined by some of the responses from conservatives. theresa may, the largest party and largest number of votes, but we have tories like heidi allen, we as conservatives will learn from this, we will listen, collaborate more...