Part Four Election 2017

enhanced, is not even an MP. John McDonnell told me earlier that they

are on stand-by to form a minority government, but no deals with the

SNP or the Lib Dems or the Greens? That is not have a minority

government works, by definition you need to do deals? There would be a

lot of backroom deals, I think he means no formal coalition as we saw

between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems. We understand that. You

could not do it otherwise. It would be very difficult to organise. The

arithmetic is against you. When the Conservatives... The finishing line

is 322, because the seven Sinn Fein MPs abstain and the Speaker is taken

into account. It will be 318, 319, they will do the deal with the

Democratic Unionists, who will extract a huge price for this

coalition of chaos, they will want a porous border with the Republic of

Ireland which rules out a very hard Brexit. Labour is waiting in the

wings, hoping it will fall. It is difficult to see how the DUP, they

are the kingmakers, you can't have a coalition without them. You could

put Labour, the SNP, the Liberals and the green altogether and it

would not be enough. The DUP hold all the cards and will be ruthless.

The fixed term Parliament Act, maybe MrsMay mansion to get some kind of

coalition together, by it's fragile. It doesn't last for long. The DUP

walk out or something happens. They don't then necessarily go to the

country because they would need 66% of parliament to vote. Labour will

say no, it's our turn. Let us do it. You could have a Corbyn Government.

Well, the act is the Tories' friend now because it makes it very

difficult to force them out. Also this, the DUP will never countenance

talking to Jeremy Corbyn because of this issue. The attitude towards the

IRA. The Tories can be absolutely Government whatever price the DUP

ex-track from them they're never going to put Jeremy Corbyn into

Downing Street. They could trigger another election. They will play

hard. She's weak. She's a lame duck now. They can spin it any way they

like and prop her up. She was a commanding - she was a commanding

figure. It was almost as if she was trying to lose the election with

that social care u-turn and pretended it wasn't. Someone here in

Westminster said to me Cameron gambled on the referendum and lost.

MrsMay gambled on the election and lost. And they said is the Tory

Party a party or a casino? Back to you, Huw. On that note, Andrew,

thank you. What are Theresa May's plans. Let's go to Downing Street.

Laura, what can you tell us? Thank you. In the last few moments I have

been told we can expect Theresa May will go to the Palace at some point

later today and crucially will go to the Palace to see the Queen, I am

told with the understanding and belief 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 it, this is not

necessarily an attempt to form any kind of 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. Just to reiterate that,

still nothing official. Nothing confirmed. But sources are telling

me we can expect Theresa May will go to the Palace at some point later

today saying, believing she can form a Government with the assurance and

understanding from the DUP that they will allow her, will in order for

her to a stay in office. Other conversations I sense and listening

to Nicky Morgan there stopping short of calling for Theresa May to go,

unlike her close colleague Anna Soubrey, it seems at the moment the

sense is of rallying around and allowing Theresa May to stay in

place. That said, it will be a weakened and fragile Theresa May

staying in place if that does happen. A weak and fragile Prime

Minister in a volatile era, that's not something necessarily with a

very long shelf life. We will be back with you shortly. Thank you

very much. The Prime Minister will be going to

the Palace sometime today, not sure whether it is before or after lunch.

But will be going to the pal loss to see the Queen on the understanding

that she can indeed tell Her Majesty she is in a position to form a

Government, depending on the ten votes of the DUP.

That's the prospect. If we have more on the timing we will bring it to

you straightaway. But we are expecting the Prime Minister to go

to the Palace to basically tell the Queen it is possible to stay in

power. We will be back with more on this in a second. We are going to

get the news now. Morning. Theresa May is determined

to stay on as Conservative leader, the BBC understands, despite a

difficult night that's led to a hung parliament. With all but one seat -

declared, the Tories have 318, eight short of the figure needed to form a

majority. Our political correspondent reports.

A brief smile but it did not last long. Theresa May's huge political

gamble ended in failure. She wanted to transform the Tories' fragile

majority into a stronger negotiating hand. Instead, her party's ended up

weaker. If, as the indications have shown, and if this is correct, that

the Conservative Party has won the most seats, and probably the most

votes, then it will be incumbent on us to ensure we have that period of

stability ap that's exactly what we will do. He confounded expectations.

As the Labour leader arrived at party HQ this morning celebrations.

We are ready to serve this country. That is what we fought the election

for. This is the programme we put forward in our election. We have

done no deals and no pacts with anybody. We are there as the Labour

Party with our points of view. Labour even took Reading East,

ousting a Tory Minister. In total, eight of May's top team failed to

get re-elected. The Conservatives at the count in Hastings looked glum.

The Home Secretary only just scraped home by 346 votes. While the Lib

Dems 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 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 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 was ousted by the

Conservatives and their former leader Alex Salmond has lost his

seat too. A few counts are still to come in. But the result is clear.

There is to be a hung parliament, it's not going to be a majority

Government of any colour. Now some are questioning whether MrsMay can

continue. I think she's in a very difficult place. She's a remarkable

and a very talented woman and doesn't shy from difficult decisions

but she now has to obviously consider her position. Are you

stepping down? 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 DUP in Northern Ireland. The DUP could help to give

the Tories a working majority at Westminster to enable them to

govern. The DUP took ten seats which was 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, reclaim ago number of seats from the Conservatives. The

results were a blow to the Tories, they 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 ascribing their successes to a high

turnout of 18-24-year-olds. Young voter turnout is estimated at 72%,

with turnout overall 2% up at 69%, which is the biggest since 1997. The

outcome raises Dawes about whether Brexit talks can begin later this

month. The European Council President has tweeted that he did

not know when the talks would start, only when they had to end.

Jean-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. Back to Huw Edwards with the BBC's election special.

Good morning once again. It's 10. 10am just about, we are one seat

away from the full count of results. We have one seat to go. That is

Kensington. Cornwall North came in as a Conservative hold. So where are

we? The Conservatives on 318. Labour on 261. Officially it's a hung

parliament. All the talk of a solid majority for MrsMay, that talk has

evaporated. It's a hung parliament. 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 now.

I think Laura has another update for us. What do you have? A couple of

moments ago I was suggesting that Theresa May was to attend the Palace

later today, I have just had it officially confirmed she will go to

Buckingham Palace at 12. 30 to seek permission from the Queen to form a

Government. Official confirmation, Theresa May has no intention

whatsoever of resigning. 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 they will see her through in

parliament. It's not a formal coalition, this will be a looser

arrangement but quietly, but definitely in fact, those two

parties have already been working together behind the scenes for a

couple of years now. It was something that wasn't necessarily

picked up often in parliament but on some crucial occasions, in fact when

Tory backbenchers had been opposing David Cameron or Theresa May, it had

on some occasions been the DUP that had seen the Prime Minister through.

So in a much more public way, in a much more vital way for Theresa May

it will be the DUP that is Nellie It doesn't necessarily mean she will

be able to stay in post for long. But for today that's her plan. Just

behind the scenes, any sense you are picking up that the Prime Minister

has had to be talked Staying on, there was suggestions from Gus oh

done earlier that he thought she may have thought instinctively at the

start of this set of results she might want to leave immediately but

colleagues thought for the sake of stability she should stay? Well, I

think when we saw her speak at her count in Maidenhead she looked

extremely shaken, like somebody who felt personally it looked like she

was feeling the loss. From a human point of view, having had such high

expectations and frankly such failures on the point of view of

expectations management, she looked like somebody who had absolutely no

enthusiasm for the idea of staying on. One Cabinet Minister said to me

before you came back to me, she does have loyal supporters in Cabinet.

Although this has been a devastating time, it's certainly not the case

that everybody in her circle, everybody in Cabinet will have been

trying to push her out. But in terms of whether or not she had to be

talked into it or out of it, I suspect more broadly it was probably

a more fluid conversation. They were probably looking at all the

potential angles, looking at the different calculations and of course

having conversations with the DUP as to whether or not they were up for

it. Thank you very much. In a moment we will have the latest from the

City of London because the financial markets famously do not like a lack

of certainty. We will be with Simon Jack in a second. A very quick

thought on what kind of support do you think she has in Cabinet? It's

interesting, because Theresa May is not what they call in the House of

Commons clubbable, she doesn't hang around drinking gin at night. She

doesn't have a lot of backbenchers or ministers who know her very well

and are personally loyal. There is a tight group who stuck together, it's

not like that with Theresa May. There are people, a few, but not

very many. She's going to have to create, if she is staying on, a new

network of links and even friends inI had side the Conservative Party

because she doesn't have enough. I think Andrew is absolutely right. It

was the interview you did with Nigel Evans earlier, he is putting the

blame squarely for that u-turn, for the policy put out there first of

all, the social care policy and then the u-turn which was unprecedented

in election terms, never had a manifesto commitment made one day

and within days there's been a u-turn. He put the blame squarely on

her two advisers, because she's known to deal with Fiona Hill and

Nick Timothy in a threesome in terms of putting policy together, that

will have to end in Nigel Evans' terms and I think it will have to

end more generally. They say if she had consulted on that policy and

consulted widely amongst ministers they would have warned her of the

pitfalls, whether it was right or wrong, the polling will show it

affected her dramatically. Let's ask Peter. Was that the point where the

polls made a significant change when that manifesto went wrong?

Yes, absolutely. Up to the launch of the manifesto the Conservatives were

holding and even creeping up to 45, 46, 40 7% on the eve of the

manifesto. A week later the Tories had dropped three points, Labour had

climbed three points, it was a game changer. If one takes the simplistic

but possibly correct view that that three points was lost for the rest

of the campaign because of social care, it made the difference between

the hung parliament and the mess the Conservatives are in now and not a

big majority but a fairly comfortable majority of 40 or 50. Mr

Corbyn emerging, smiling broadly. He has been mentioning a little earlier

that he feels that he has policies which could actually appeal to

people across the House of Commons, John McDonnell also said that

earlier, offering up the thought of a potential Labour minority

government. I had to say that everyone we have discussed that with

has said that the numbers do not make sense in that regard, Peter? If

the Conservatives can do a deal with the DUP they have a collective

majority of 13 if they do not in Kensington, 15 if they do, because

of Sinn Fein not taking up their seven seats. In the short run, that

is perfectly viable as long as they hold together. It is the medium term

when the Brexit negotiations get tough, the policy strain starts to

emerge, that is when I would not like to place too much money on

survival. The next two weeks, relatively easy. We are getting a

government, not necessarily a long-term one. The other thing we

have not mentioned at any point this morning about the campaign is the

two terrible terrorist incidents, the murders in Manchester and

London, that badly disrupted the Conservative campaign and Theresa

May's campaign. We think back to that snowy day in John Major's

Government when the IRA hit a mortar bomb into Downing Street, almost

killed Lord Donald, at that point we were engaged in another big

arguments, the Government had to be moved from Downing Street into

Admiralty Arch, there was a major hiatus, Black Wednesday followed. In

the same sort of way these awful terrorist attacks disrupted things,

Cobra met, the rhythm of the campaign, the way Conservative HQ

would often have a grip of the campaign was loosened and two

crucial moments. People don't want to talk about this because nobody

wants to suggest that the terrorists have any bigotry in any sense but it

disrupted the campaign. If the Conservatives had begun to develop a

fightback in the wake of social care, the terrorist attacks

disrupted any fight back so there was no new Tory narrative that could

trump the rather tarnished old one. And a very effective Labour country

tag. Tories thought that if the terror attack has any effect it will

help us because Jeremy Corbyn the IRA friends and all that, Labour

came back very fast on police numbers, armed police in particular,

they were supported by serving police officers. And that was

successful for Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party and gave them a certain

amount of momentum that fed into a manifesto making promises on

spending on public services more broadly. We're talking about pulling

milestones, things that mark the campaign, John joins us. I know it

has been a long night, but your thoughts on when we match-up the

events, the results, to the stages of polling you have been involved

in, what conclusions do you draw? I think it is pretty clear that Jeremy

Corbyn achieved something quite remarkable during this election

campaign. The truth is that usually 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, in truth it was

the fate of Gordon Brown. Derek -- Jeremy Corbyn has been regarded for

the last two years by most British voters is being incapable of being a

capable party leader, let alone Prime Minister, but during the

campaign his personal evaluation has improved so much that those polls

who is king people how good or bad do you think Jeremy Corbyn is doing,

do you approve or disapprove of his leadership, he almost had as many

people who thought he was doing OK than 40 was doing worse. The

trajectory for Theresa May was in the opposite direction. Given that

went Theresa May started the campaign, it sounded like it would

be a one trick pony, strong and stable leadership in the national

interest. The moment that that became rather fragile for the

reasons you have been discussing around the launch of the Tory

manifesto, while at the same time people were saying, hang on, Jeremy

Corbyn is not quite so bad after all. I think in particular what

happened apart from clearly him capturing the enthusiasm of young

voters and those who had not voted before, he simply persuaded those

people who usually voted Labour but who four weeks ago were still saying

I usually vote Labour but I could not possibly vote for them under

Jeremy Corbyn, it is too extreme and he is useless. By the end of the

campaign the poll said that just as many people who voted Labour in 2015

would vote Labour again, as were saying that they voted Conservative

in 2015 and would vote Conservative again. Corbin got the Labour tribe

back-in. -- Corbyn got the Labour tribe back-in. Labour has lost this

election, as badly as Gordon Brown did in 2010, and while Mr Corbyn may

be able to demonstrate that his strategy of not appealing to the

centre, trying to go for young voters, it may in fact not lead to a

heavy defeat but he is still to prove it can take the party to

victory. Thank you, John. We will talk in a while again.

Andy? There was an interesting optimistic aspect, Theresa May

famously tried to do the entire election campaign with a series of

slogans. Strong and stable, strong and stable. She did not seem to want

to have a lively and vigorous conversation with the country about

Brexit or the economy or what she really thought or anything else.

Jeremy Corbyn was going around and appeared to be in listening mode, he

had very strong views as well but he was having more of a conversation,

which was very important. The differences Jeremy Corbyn has spent

nearly 40 years as a campaigner, albeit within a certain niche

market. Theresa May is not a natural people person. I think the public

began to catch on to the fact that maybe this assembly who does not

find it very easy to think on her feet, who much prefers to be

well-prepared before doing anything. The trouble is that once you are

Prime Minister that is not necessarily a mode in which you can

operate in most of the same ways one might say that Gordon Brown

discovered when he also became Prime Minister. Thank you, John. Let's

pause for a second because John Curtice has raised several themes

about the Corbyn performance and we would like to set it in historical

context so we can judge it against other things.

Let's join Jeremy. Entering the Central Lobby of the House of

Commons. John Curtice talking about Labour have lost and how badly. Can

we measure how badly they have lost? Lots of reasons to be pleased, they

did much better than expected, we will try to set the loss in context.

This is where we think it will end up at the end of this, a seat still

in play, 261 to Labour in the 2017 election. They did better than

people expected. How does it compared to previous losses? Way

better than Ed Miliband, who last two years ago in 2015, who had a

horrible time. Sort of in the zone that Gordon Brown was then in 2010

if you look at seat numbers, 258, he is a bit ahead of Gordon Brown. Neil

Kinnock, 271 in 1992, the John Major election where huge turnout for the

Conservatives won eight, Neil Kinnock had to resign, but he did

better in seats than Mr Corbyn today. Neil Kinnock 220 91987 was

allowed to fight again, losing to Mrs Thatcher for her second

landslide. This one was defining, bad political campaigns, the

disaster for Labour in 1983, is such a landslide after the Falklands War,

Michael Foot only got 209 seats. Chewing the campaign, people were

saying before it started, will Mr Corbyn got what Mr foot got or even

lower? Where he has succeeded and he has completely changed the terms of

reference, he is a long way ahead of Michael Foot in 1983. Look at Jim

Callaghan, 1979, he lost to Mrs Thatcher when he won -- she won her

first election, 269, very much in the same zone. 1970, Harold Wilson

lost to Heath, 288. You have a spectrum of Labour leaders. In terms

of how well or badly Jeremy Corbyn did, he is very much part of the

peace if you measure it in seats. I want to do a different

measurements, this is very, very interesting. Let's start at this end

and look at percentages. If we go back to the Wilson era, the 70s and

previously, you saw for example in the 50s that the combination of the

Labour and Conservative vote would be above 90 or 95%. This is a bit of

a legacy of art, 43%, losing the election with 43%. That did not

happen for many years thereafter. Losing Labour leaders, Callaghan got

37% in 79, Foot 28%, historically low in 83. Kinnock 31 and 34, this

is the effect of a multiplicity of different parties, particularly the

Liberals as they then were. 29% the Gordon Brown in 2010, horrible

percentage, of a bid for Ed Miliband in 2015, but look at this. 40% of

the vote, four out of ten voters in this election went for Corbyn across

the UK. If you are a Jeremy Corbyn fan, that is the figure you point

to. It is partly because you could have almost left the pitch and the

Liberal Democrats are still down in the dumps but it is a brilliant

statistic for people who say that as the successful Corbyn bar to be

election -- it is partly because Ukip have almost left the pitch.

Such a huge proportion of the electorate chose Labour this time.

You have to go way back among losing Labour leaders to find anything like

that, he even beat Tony Blair in one of his winning elections!

Thank you, Jeremy Vine, taking us through the performances of the past

and underlining what has been achieved as far as the Corbyn

campaign is concerned. I mentioned the City and how the

markets have responded, Simon Jack, tell us about the reaction?

They have been completely bamboozled once again and fail to read British

politics. They were pricing in a solid Tory majority, but you can see

what happened to sterling, the value of the pound against the dollar,

easily the most per to be sensitive market, it felt very sharply on that

exit poll. -- easily the most politically sensitive market. The

pound started to say to itself, why am I falling? It is not this I do

not want, I am most scared of the hard Brexit. We saw the big fall

after the referendum last year. So it started creeping up again. Maybe

Theresa May will be more beholden to the hard Brexit elements in her own

party if she does the negotiating, so it goes back up. These

conflicting thoughts all morning, drifting off a bit when the market

and businesses I have been speaking to said, do you know what will

happen? The Brexit clock is ticking, we have invoked Article 50 and we

have the worst possible outcome. We have wasted valuable time and not

got certainty coming into the negotiations that we were promised.

Looking at the other side, AE you negotiators have been pressing their

best shirts, getting their ring binders ready, it looks as if we are

stumbling into the room at the last minute underprepared. That is the

pound. The stock market went up, because as the pound falls the

foreign earnings of the big multinationals are worth more.

Companies focused mostly on the UK like banks and building societies,

sorry, banks or house-builders, their shares had said that. This is

seen as not brilliant for the UK economy. That is the market reaction

in the City. Thank you, Simon. We will be back in

the City of London later. The time is coming up to 10:30am. We are

continuing coverage of the election outcome at Westminster. We are

looking at a hung parliament, the Conservatives as the largest party

and a possible and as -- possible understanding, and informal

understanding between the Conservatives and the Democratic

Unionist Party. Viewers on BBC world have been with this all night and

during the morning, thank you for watching, you are leaving now and we

wish you well. And our coverage continues. Before I join Andrew Neil

at Westminster, an important update on the position of the Democratic

Unionists in Northern Ireland is, they are a very important part of

this Government jigsaw. They are potentially kingmakers. DUP is

meeting to reflect in a situation that one party source described as

messy. That source has confirmed soundings have been made but nothing

formal agreed, as you said it would be an understanding, a supply and

demand 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 might be quite crucial if Theresa May is expected

to go to the Palace on the understanding that she would have

the support of the ten DUP in order to get through her policies and get

the majority in the House of Commons, we need to keep an eye on

that. This is pressure in negotiations. The DUP will have a

shopping list to some extent of what they would like. Just to underline,

we expect the Prime Minister to go to the powers that about 12:30pm to

inform Her Majesty of her plans -- go to the Sidnei Buckingham Palace.

We understand she wants to form a government with the Democratic

Unionists, then the DUP might set details a short while after that.

Let's go back to Westminster. It is rather rainy but Andrew is waiting.

It's turned into a downpower, the Tory tears I told you about are now

a flood! We are getting plenty of that rain and being kept cool in the

process. You have had your suit washed courtesy of the licence

payer, what more can we say on a morning like this? .

Eric Pickles, one of your MPs, Philip Davis, he said the

Conservative Party had made a pig's ear of the national campaign. Do you

agree? It's not been the happiest campaign that I have been engaged

with. Is that an understatement? It's all rather pointless now, what

we have to do is try and put a majority together to remain in

Government. There will be a time for us to go through what went wrong and

how we can improve. But I can tell you this, it's not now. Well, maybe

not. But even if you do manage to stay in Government you will be the

walking wounded, won't you? It will be better if we had a majority, 20,

30 majority, it's going to be very difficult. But that's democracy,

that's what people voted for. It's up to us to get on with the job.

Doesn't it leave Theresa May as a lame duck? No, I don't think that is

right. I think she has the opportunity, she has to see the

Queen at 12. 30, of putting 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,

she had a Government with an overall majority. It wasn't huge but it was

a majority. Now she doesn't, she's going to have to ask the Queen for

permission to form a Government. What's the good news in this? It's

clearly not a happy moment for the Conservative Party. But it's not

necessarily a fatal moment for the Conservative Party. What are you

going to give to the DUP to keep you in power? I am in the a member of

the House of Commons and think it's unlikely I would be part of the

negotiating team. But you will have to give something? It depends what

the understanding is, I don't know whether it's going to be issue by

issue. Adam Clarke, you have obviously done much better than many

people thought, or Jeremy Corbyn has done better. What should Labour do

now? You still lost the election. Yeah, disappointed to not be able to

not have a majority, we have seen a big bold positive campaign and

vision for the country that's been incredibly popular. If you think of

seven weeks ago, Theresa May called this election thinking it was going

to be a Tory landslide and Labour were polling at 24% and now at over

40%, it's been an incredible campaign. Would you be a little bit

nervous if Jeremy Corbyn tried to form a minority Government which

would involve all sorts of deals and compromises and that could end in

tears, as well? Well, minority Government, not a coalition, but on

a deal by deal basis is what my understanding is, I think that would

be fantastic if that was able to be achieved. The British people

wouldn't have to live under Tory austerity any more and I think it

would set a different direction of travel, so I hope that can happen.

Is it not a yard stick of how appalling your party's campaign was

that 40% of this country voted for Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party? A

bigger percentage voted for the Conservative Party. The poll rating

never varied very much in terms of percentage. 40% for Jeremy Corbyn. A

man that you thought you could wipe the floor with. I think I did and a

lot of other people underestimated Mr Corbyn. His achievement in terms

to get the percentage share that he did and to be able to turn over a

number of Conservative seats is a considerable achievement. I thank

you both. By the time you come back to us we may well have dried out,

but don't count on it. Thank you very much. Trying to squeeze under

that umbrella you have. We are back in our warm studio, Andrew won't

like that. I would like to catch up with some more reaction and I think

we are in a position to hear from Ukip's Paul Nuttall standing in

Boston. Do we have that? Otherwise I will just ask for reaction to what

we heard there. Here is Paul Nuttall. Regressed electorally back

to our 2011 level which 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's only a temporary

return to two-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. Some people mistakenly think our job is

done. But it's not. With Brexit we may well have won the war but we 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 election that came about at an inopportunity time for

our party. The Prime Minister was able to talk the talk on the Brexit

negotiations without having to walk the walk. Which is precisely why

this election was called in the first place. And what a hubristic,

foolish, ish politically naive election to call. The negotiations

begin in a few weeks with Brussels and I wish the Prime Minister,

whoever that is, all 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 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 they do, like me, truly believe in

Britain but something in my head says otherwise. I hope I am proven

to be wrong. As for Ukip, well, I have said throughout this election

that in politics sometimes the tide comes in, 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 it will return. The one

question 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 contend 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 result the guard dogs of Brexit and the Prime

Minister, and I suspect it will be a Tory, must know that if they begin

to back-track or Bartter things away, then they must know they will

be punished at the ballot box and that will only happen if Ukip is

electorally 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 were the first to talk about the greater need for integration and the

threats posed to our people from the growing cancer of Islamist extremism

in our midst. Unfortunately, the recent attacks in Manchester and

London have proved we were correct. I would also argue on many other

issues we have led and others 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 I am more confident now than ever that

many of our proposals in the 2017 manifesto will either be Government

policy or adopted by the establishment parties before the

next general election. I believe in the long-term some of our policy

proposals are inevitable, such as an English parliament or a full face -

full face coverings ban. I am proud to have stood on a 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 contend 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 by political correctness and therefore straight

talks and says what everybody else is thinking. If Ukip sticks to these

principles, then I believe it will flourish in future years. Indeed, I

even predict after last night that if things go the way I expect, then

Ukip could in 18 months' time be bigger in terms of poll ratings and

members than it ever has 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 are to quay the new rebranded Ukip must be launched 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 that 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

standing down as leader of Ukip with immediate effect. There will be a

leadership contest this year in time are the party conference. I think

that will make it three leadership contests in one year for Ukip. I

suppose in this context looking at a share of 1. 1.8% of the vote, that

was inevitable. Rather small guard dogs of Brexit these days. Clever

people with slide rules have calculated after he goes that will

be five Ukip leaders in nine months, even by the standard of British

politics is going it some. He is an affable guy but he was not a

successful leader, got in lots of trouble almost every time he

appeared in public. The famous statement, he couldn't remember

Leanne woods name. He is known in the press now as Natalie Nuttall.

It's been a miserable experience for him. He did it with a certain amount

of grace there. It's hard to see Ukip reviving quickly. That depends

very much on a new leader. We have heard from Nigel Farage today,

delighted to see that Paul Nuttall is standing down, Nigel Farage I

think we can predict will be bouncing back. If the Conservative

Party in parliament breaks badly over the Brexit negotiations, and I

think that's likely, then we will see Ukip coming in to support the

hard Brexiteers from the outside. If they're making running in

parliament, the Conservatives, why are people going to look for a new

party, another party outside of parliament? Hard to see how they

come back. This has been the demise of Ukip, in local elections they did

badly. Obviously, in this election, as you say you are looking at their

vote share, they have no MPs. We can see there Nigel Farage, former

leader, saying an excellent speech by Paul Nuttall, sorry he is

standing down. There were those - as we know this is the man who said he

would be resigning and not coming back to frontline politics. He has

had certainly plenty of reincarnations in that regard. We

could well see him back. The point about holding the Government's feet

to the fire, they don't have the physical infrastructure to do that

any more in electoral terms. Paul Nuttall's heart wasn't in it to the

end because of the difficult time you talked about. When we

interviewed him we said do you think he will be the last leader of Ukip,

he said no, that's not going to happen. Who will be the next leader?

They struggled 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, good to have you back. In that Paul Nuttall speech,

again he went over the theme of projected difficulties ahead the

Conservatives in the Brexit process. Surely he is right on that? Yes, and

I have a sliver of human sympathy him, think of the hell of being the

leader of Ukip with the Farage bird hovering over you. We must remember

that they reflected a slice of opinion in our country which really

mattered, which was not finding its voice. 4 million votes last time.

You have parties to give people a voice, that keeps open society on

the road. Tim Shipman has correctly said all elections ends with Nigel

Farage resigning or being appointed leader of Ukip, and sometimes both.

I think that has happened on this programme more than once or twice!

Certainly a heavy hint earlier that he might be needed. He said he would

absolutely have to make a to front line if Brexit was at risk, which he

said it could be in the light of a hung parliament. We have been

notified. He would have would have to have his arm twisted ex-smokers

were there into some of the seats Emily looked at where Ukip did very

well last time around, there was an expectation at the beginning of this

election campaign that their votes were folding into the Conservatives.

Up to a point. It was clear from some of Emily's graphs that some of

them were dividing in the northern constituencies where the Ukip vote

had gone down almost collapsed, dividing it equally, Labour were

getting back some of the votes. It is not straightforward to say they

have gone to the Conservatives, as we can see from the election result.

Lots of Labour voters are worried about immigration, hostile to the

EU, Ukip gave them a new voice. Now Ukip is going down, some are coming

back to the Labour Party. That is why Jeremy Corbyn was so clear he

would be unclear about Brexit, he knew that so many of his voters, 9

million Labour voters voted for Brexit and the party was divided.

Keir Starmer brilliantly said that is why we are great for Britain,

Britain is divided by Brexit answer was the Labour Party, so we

represent Britain! A refreshing degree of honesty. We said earlier

we expect the Prime Minister to emerge at around 12:30pm to take the

journey from Downing Street to Buckingham Palace. Let's go to

Downing Street, Laura has the latest on what is being set

behind-the-scenes about the Prime Minister's position?

Just before I tell you about that I can't help but remind you that

almost exactly this time in 2015 we were talking about Nigel Farage

being the Vicky Pollard of resignations yeah, but, no, yeah,

but, no. It sounds like another yeah today. I love of my bad metaphors.

Talking to Tories privately from outside Downing Street this morning

it seems very much 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 the sentiment I think

more than anything else of the horror of the prospect of another

election seems to have allowed the party to at least settle its

collective nerve for a little while. I had to say that those

conversations have also made completely plain that many MPs will

regard her as a caretaker rather than a Prime Minister who will be in

this for the long haul. Just another point about the fact that she will

have to rely on some form of assurance or support from the DUP,

not clear exactly what the form of that will be, but as we said earlier

some kind of loose arrangement. Here's a thought, very many really

important issues for the public like social care, housing, are devolved.

So they are different in Northern Ireland. So what happens when it

comes a controversial vote in the House of Commons? When the Tories

need to rely on the DUP but they are not issues affecting the DUP's

voters? In the months to come back or be quite a conundrum for the

Tories. I think that might exaggerate the effect you often see

with minority governments were basically anything controversial,

anything difficult just doesn't even make it to the House of Commons, let

alone actually getting its way through. A quick point, when we

spoke to Nigel Evans earlier, and to Nicky Morgan, we discussed the fact

that there was significant misgivings with the way the campaign

was run, specifically around the very close-knit people around the

Prime Minister, basically the way that she governs and runs things?

Absolutely. To what extent will she be able to change that, because that

is a very established pattern that she has? It is her modus operandi

but it is very clear to me that MPs will demand that some of her closest

team go. One former minister said on the phone awhile ago that it will

have to be the case that Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, her chiefs of

staff, depart. Of course that will be a decision of the number ten and

Theresa May but let's be clear, there are Conservative MPs who

expect and will demand that happens. There is deep unhappiness at how the

campaign was run but, if you like, it is a symbol of how she had been

running operations, not being inclusive enough, not consulting and

of Cabinet colleagues. Some people in Cabinet like the way she worked

because they felt that one she had made a decision she tended to stick

to it and looked for evidence, things were much more

formal. But I think because she is so much weaker now than 24 hours

ago, she will have to take counsel from the Cabinet, she will not now,

I don't think, be able to Sakho Chancellor, Philip Hammond, which

had been the plan for this election. -- will not be able to Sakho

Chancellor. Philip Hammond is on the less sceptical end of the Brexit

spectrum. I hate to use the word soft and hard but it may well be the

case, it has been suggested to me, that's Cabinet members wanted that

the approach to the single market back on the table. -- that some

Cabinet members. The DUP are soft in terms of the border with the

mainland of Ireland but definitely Eurosceptic in character. It is too

early to say whether this will change the nature of the kind of

Brexit we will end up with, but complications all around. It is a

very, very complicated set of consequences from what has clearly

been a political disaster. We will be back, Laura, thank you very much.

Andy? It'll be a personal humiliation of a new kind the

Theresa May to have to get rid of Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, she

would hate that and be badly weakened if she did, she depends

upon them very, very much. She would prefer to lose back teeth without

anaesthetic and a set of pliers than do that. One she has done it she

will be in a weaker position and her modus operandi will have gone, I

will be very surprised if she finds it easy to do. She might have

pressure to get rid of one of them, to at least have made some

sacrifice, but it would be difficult. Or at least replace them

with somebody else even though she only has a very small coterie. It is

almost saying to Theresa May you must be a different kind of human

being, that is very, very hard to do. The problem with the two

gatekeepers is a reflection of Mrs May being very

anxious as a Prime Minister. She is very determined and very tough but

also very anxious person. Everybody on all sites describes how things

get held by the gatekeepers. It is deeply inefficient, they get worn

out, so does she. There is a huge machine as well as Cabinet

colleagues at her disposal. You can get away with it as Secretary of

State but not as Prime Minister, it is only a matter of time. On a

completely different note, a record number of female MPs elected, more

than 200 in this Parliament, is numbering the 196 in 2015, there is

one seat to go in Kensington. -- outnumbering the 196. And Theresa

May used to run a campaign for women and the Conservatives. You will have

noticed that the weather is not great towards Westminster, but it is

not putting tourists and people gathering outside Buckingham Palace,

let me tell you! Changing the guard at Buckingham Palace, that is taking

place today. But all eyes as on Horse Guards Parade, lots of

rehearsing going on for the Queen's Birthday Parade and the Trooping of

the Colour which takes place a week tomorrow. They are on their way to

Buckingham Palace right now, Andy? I think that is Momentum marching,

their official honour guard explanation mark about it certainly

involves Momentum, no doubt! Plenty of umbrellas, but the weather is not

putting off people who have been to see the great spectacle happening

outside Buckingham Palace. We are full of sympathy about the weather,

Andrew Neil! Thank you, that I don't need

sympathy, the sun has come out. If you don't like the weather, hang

around, it changes in 15 minutes. I have Jean Miller with me, she ran

the famous court case which called the Parliamentary vote on Brexit. --

I have Gina Miller. Gina Miller, does a hung parliament make what you

would regard as a softer Brexit more likely or will it perhaps make for a

chaotic breakfast... I'm sorry, Brexit! It has been a long night! It

has. I think the people have spoken loud and clear and said we do not

want an extreme Brexit, we do not want one that leaves the single

market, and that is what will happen. It is loud and clear. It was

in the Conservative manifesto, that is what they voted against. I don't

think it will be chaos, we will not put the hung parliament. We might

end up with a parliament who votes issue by issue, and when it comes to

Brexit we will go on close negotiations with a far more

flexible approach. Mrs May called the selection because she said she

wanted a mandate for her form of Brexit. What is her mandate this

morning? It is a desperately disappointing outcome and I feel for

the 30 or so former colleagues who very unexpectedly, to them at least,

lost their seats. I think it is fair to say that we are the largest party

by quite some way, 55 seats ahead of Labour. The idea that Labour can

form an administration, I think, is for the birds. But we have not got

over the line of 326. But what is her mandate? We are the party that

will be the leading light in the government, it looks as if we will

have an arrangement with the DUP which will be sustainable for the

short and medium-term at least and maybe beyond. Where I agree with

Gina, I think the important thing is not to Brexit. We got through that

process, the legal process, the Article 50 process is through.

However I hope that is part and parcel of this, and I say that as a

London MP where there are massive swing is very much because of the

Brexit issue which permeated through to the very poor results the

Conservatives had in London, I would like to see an open offer from the

Theresa May administration to make sure we hear as many voices as

possible playing their parts from other political parties in terms of

trying to sort out what will be the right deal within particular

sectors. Is there not a danger from your point of view that if Mrs May

is to do a deal with the DUP from Northern Ireland, which are pretty

strong on Brexit, that she will, despite not getting the mandate she

looked for, stick to her form of Brexit that was in the manifesto? I

don't think so. I think the idea of more voices from different parties

is absolutely right. This issue is too big to be left to one party.

That has won, democracy has spoken and said it should be more people,

more voices in something that will affect our country so deeply. It is

in the national decades -- interest the decades to come. There is a very

big issue with Ireland, either we treated as an entity in its own

right or that the islands of Great Britain, my preference would be the

matter. Clearly the preference of the DUP would be the matter, they're

all sort of implications following from. The Irish government are well

aware of the issue. I did not mean the Irish issue, just that you are

dependent on the DUP and they are pretty strong on Brexit. If I was Mr

Barnier, the lead negotiator, listening to you this morning, I

would say it is a bit down late that you will start consulting all these

people and deciding what Brexit really means. We start negotiations

in a few days. I think he has been quite fair, he is relaxed about

having a pause, given the political uncertainty, it would be foolish not

to have a pause. So you do not think the negotiations will bring us --

begin as scheduled? I think until the general... German electoral

system is sorted out it will be difficult to get anything finalised.

But let's get this right, let's be able to bring other voices to have

their part to play, I accept that the clock is ticking on Brexit but

we don't have to rush in headlong over the next few weeks. If she

manages to pull off forming a government, did she not go into the

negotiations, given what she hoped to achieve is and has clearly failed

to achieve, she goes into the negotiations a diminished figure?

That is a problem because her reputation is in tatters. The EU do

not want a failing neighbour. We should not want them to fail either.

It would be reasonable negotiations and that's what we didn't have

before. With MrsMay we had a very closed, inflexible approach that was

hard Brexit or nothing, deal or no deal. We won't have that nothing.

What you are talking about is almost a fundamental reopening of our

Brexit negotiating position. No, I don't think it's that. Well, she is

talking about remaining a member of the single market, aren't you I do.

That's what I said, that's pretty fundamental. That would be. The

risk, to be honest, that would essentially be frustrating the

Brexit that has been agreed as far as getting to Article 50 is

concerned. We did we search with 50% Leavers and Remains and asked that

question, do you want the next Government to leave the single

market and 50% said no. Only 21% said they wanted to leave the single

market. When it came to freedom of movement, 69% said they wanted those

rights. Actually, I was not surprised... All of us have

experience of opinion polls. It was a survey, directly asked questions.

When this result came we were not surprised. Staying part of the

customs union? It's not a political union, it's not a military union.

It's not a judicial union. You want to remain a member of the single

market, and you want to remain a member of the customs union. If that

is not a radical redrawing of the Government's Brexit conditions, what

is? That would be. This customs union issue is likely to rear its

head as far as the Irish issue, a blind eye is going to have to be

turned for goods to go through the UK from Ireland. Do you fear for the

future of this country? I do, a little bit, the uncertainty is not

good news, I represent the City of London and you have seen jitters

today. I hoped we would have a definitive election result and a

very stable Government in place. You got none of that. In fairness to

Theresa May she's quickly acted this morning to get supply and confidence

arrangement to make sure we are able to stabilise things. That's in

desperation. I think it's a reality that unlike the offer from Jeremy

Corbyn and Mr McDonnell, that is... Will she recover her authority again

with the Conservative Party after what she has put them through? She

is the head of Government, I would disagree with what Gina said about

her relationship with European leaders. I am not asking about

European leaders. Will she ever recover authority with her own

party? I am confident we can recover that authority. I am not going to

say it's going to be entirely easy, this has been a bruising and

unexpected experience. I think the danger with what happened with the

campaign, with hindsight, the tone was too negative, we don't have the

hope and optimism that Labour were able to portray. We were right I

think to recognise that this whole Brexit process is going to be very

difficult and we have to level with the public about that but also to

make the case danger of what a Corbyn and McDonnell Government

would do. You had a chance to make that case and look where it got you.

We will move on. Back to you, Huw. We will be talking about the nature

of the campaign in a few minutes. Talking about a negative campaign

and talking about reports that are 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. We will pick that up. In a moment the news.

First, the weather, as we have seen it's wet in London.

Hello there. With the expectation of northern Scotland for many more

sunshine around today compared with yesterday. But keep the umbrella

handy. Showers in western areas today, they're pushing eastwards for

the afternoon. Central and eastern England some showers could be heavy.

A lot of cloud across northern and eastern Scotland but the rain

turning lighter and patchier. Many dry through the afternoon,

especially further west and pleasant enough in the sunshine.

Showers fade away this evening. Cloud spills in through tonight

bringing rain to Northern Ireland, which will ease into Saturday to

bright and blustery weather. Rain in Scotland. For northern England,

Wales, potentially parts of Devon and Cornwall rain on and off

throughout the day. Further south and east, you should stay dry on

Saturday and feeling humid too. Many south-eastern areas dry again

on Sunday. A small chance of a shower. Sunshine coming through.

Elsewhere, sunshine and showers and feeling cooler. Have a good day.

Theresa May will go to Buckingham Palace this lunchtime to seek

permission from the Queen to form a Government, despite the general

election ending in a hung parliament. With all but one seat

declared the Tories have 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 DUP party will support a minority Conservative

administration. DUP sources say reports of an agreement are

premature. Our political correspondent reports.

A brief smile but it did not last long.

Theresa May's huge political gamble ended in failure.

She wanted to transform the Tories' fragile

majority into a stronger negotiating hand.

Instead, her party's ended up weaker.

If, as the indications have shown, and if this is correct, that

the Conservative Party has won the most seats,

and probably the most votes, then it will be incumbent on

us to ensure we have that period of stability and that's

As the Labour leader arrived at party HQ this

That is what we fought the election for.

This is the programme we put forward in our election.

We have done no deals and no pacts with anybody.

We are there as the Labour Party with our points of view.

The Conservatives at the count in Hastings looked glum.

The Home Secretary only just scraped home by 346 votes.

Eight of May's top team failed to get re-elected.

While the Lib Dems celebrated the return of former

Ministers like Sir Vince Cable, the party's

Ministers like Sir Vince Cable, the party's old leader had one

of the biggest upsets of the night, losing his Sheffield seat.

I 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 in politics, you live by

The SNP lost big names on a very bad night.

Their deputy leader Angus Robertson was ousted by the

Conservatives and their former leader Alex Salmond has lost his

The DUP have said they will make their influence felt. With just one

count still to come in, the result is clear. There is to be a hung

parliament. It's not going to be a majority Government of any colour.

It's left some questioning whether MrsMay can continue. I think she's

in a very difficult place. She's a remarkable and a very talented woman

and she doesn't shy from difficult decisions but she now has to

obviously consider her position. Are you stepping down? 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 Ukip 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 hoped to make gains in pro-Brexit areas. Plaid Cymru won

four seats, up one. The Liberal Democrats lost their only Welsh MP.

The outcome raises doubts about whether Brexit talks can begin this

month. The European Council President has tweeted he did not

know when the talks would start, only when they had to end.

Jean-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 to the BBC's election

special. Good morning. It is 11. 10 am. We

are back in the election centre with the latest for you on the election

outcome and of course we are one seat away from a full complement of

results. With one seat to go in Kensington, Conservatives on 318,

Labour on 261. The Conservatives the biggest party but do not have a

majority. Theresa May is facing a hung parliament and if she is to

stay in power, which she intends to do, she will probably say that

later, she will depend on the support of the DUP. A word about the

seat that we don't have, that is Kensington in a very prosperous part

of London. They were counting overnight, it's very tight. We are

told when they stopped counting because they were exhausted Labour

was marginally ahead by 30 or 40 votes. They're not going to count

again until later. We may get a result in the early evening. So, we

could be in a position where the Tories will be on 319 or indeed on

318 with Labour on 262. Basically, that's the result. It is a hung

parliament. Lots more reaction for you. If you are just joining us, the

Prime Minister will be going to Buckingham Palace at 12. 30 and is

likely to make a statement in Downing Street on her plans. Plenty

to talk about the challenges she faces and Peter Hennessy is with us

a great perspective on what's gone on in the past. In the past what has

happened at this point, what's the Prime Minister been doing? 1st

March, 1974, the previous day Ted Heath lost, it was a snap election

that snapped him up. In the afternoon, the Friday afternoon,

this is an intriguing question, if I recall correctly, he called the

Cabinet together to tell them he was going to try to do a deal with the

Liberal leader over the weekend and also went to see the Queen. Not sure

if it was before or after... On the Monday, if I recall correctly, he

had another meeting with the Cabinet to report on why he didn't think

what Jeremy Thorpe was considering offering, which wasn't very much or

vice versa, wasn't going to work. One would look this afternoon for a

Cabinet meeting to take them into her confidence how she will play it.

No sign of that yet. That's the point. We haven't heard anything

about her gathering a team around her and as well as discussions with

the DUP, whom she might want in that confidence and supply, needs to go

ahead with Brexit, who is going to be in her team? While the election

was going on, and during the campaign when there was all this

talk of 100-seat majority, talk Philip Hammond may no longer be in

post, she might be moving Amber Rudd who only just about held on to her

seat, Ben Gummer was talked about, who lost his seat, he was talked

about possibly taking over David Davis role, all these things now...

By friends of Ben Gummer. These things were being circulated at the

time. Yet we still haven't heard from the Cabinet. We are hearing a

lot of Cabinet ministers haven't heard at all from Theresa May. Far

from there being a formal Cabinet meeting as Peter suggested, there

doesn't seem to be informal points made either. Both of the main

parties leaders have big questions about how wide and generously they

open up. Does Theresa May go to people like Michael Gove who she

fired on the back benches, experienced, popular Tories and try

and bring them back? On the other side, how does Jeremy Corbyn build

further on the great electoral success he has had? Lots of the more

moderate or Blairite centrist MPs said he was rubbish and walked out.

They have been proved wrong, now some are saying so. Owen Jones

saying what a great campaign. Harriet Harman tweeting. Does Jeremy

Corbyn hold out the hand to people like Yvette Cooper and say come on

in, we are going to build a proper Labour Cabinet, that reflects all

shades. What's your... It would be generous for him to do, he is a

generous and non-mean spirited individual, I think. Lots of people

around him on the left who hate the idea of bringing wretched Blairites

in but it would be clever. He can afford to be generous. The hard van

guard left party types, a hangover group from the old days, do alienate

the centre and right in the Labour Party and an act of generosity, the

van guard Labour types do believe in exactly that, that elite group,

don't they, to carry the next stage forward? They have a manifesto to

stick to. Jeremy Corbyn hasn't had it all his own way in terms of the

manifesto on things like Trident renewal, for example. There will be

things moderate Labour MPs can hold on to and argue they could come

back. He could afford an act of generosity to bring some of those

people in, even if not at the top. Parties based on fraternity and

brotherhood find it difficult to put it into practice internally. A quick

word on more EU response. There is a very intriguing statement from

Jean-Claude Juncker. The President of the Commission. On the business

of extending negotiations on Article 50, asked at a news conference

whether the Article 50 negotiations should be extended in the light of

the UK election result, Jean-Claude Juncker replied that before

negotiations can be extended, they first need to begin. That is his

words. Clearly again question marks over whether this rigid timetable of

starting in ten days is going to happen. We heard Michel Barnier

saying we need to be in a position where people are happy to start and

will be confident in that process. We will pick up on that in a while.

We may get more from Brussels on that. Can I bring in Jonathan

Bartley, co-leader of the Greens. Thank you very much for waiting to

talk to us. Your perspective on the outcome of this election and what

are the lessons you draw? We talked for a long time about

Progressive alliances, for two years and we stood aside in 24 seat to

allow that possibility, those swing seats that would determine the

outcome of the election and in some of those it has come to fruition. We

were thrilled that there seem to have been a change in the way we do

politics in this country with the Labour Party taking up a lot of our

ideas from the 2015 manifesto and people endorsing them and voting for

them. It is great to have Caroline Lucas returning with a bigger

majority but really worried about the DUP having this sway over a

Conservative government. They are climate change sceptics and have

faced accusations of bigotry and homophobia and to have at the heart

of government is worrying. And Theresa May's credibility seems to

be shot, one mistake after another, from originally getting the job

because everyone else ran away to the problems over invoking Article

50, having to be dragged into Parliament to have a meaningful

debate and a vote on the final deal right through to the U-turn on a

general election and now this ticking over her supposed mandate to

take the Brexit negotiations. It is a government in chaos. Looking at

the figures, you have just over half a million votes in the election

which is roughly 2% which is probably half of what you got in

percentage terms last time. How difficult was it for you? It was

tough but we always knew we would take a hit. We have been pushing

hard for voting for progressive candidates and standing aside in

those seats and do have one MP with half a million votes underlined the

ongoing unfairness of the system which is what we want to change. Not

forgetting we have got almost double the number of votes as the DUP who

are about to call the shots and that shows the Observer of the system. --

of the absurdity of the system. We will hear from the Prime Minister

later, but a Conservative administration basically supported

by the DUP, ten MPs, is that the basis for a politically stable

government in your view given the challenges ahead? The DUP I don't

think are the kind of people you want calling the shots. We have just

got rid of Ukip who seems to have finally died a death but without any

MPs they were still calling shots and they said to the government to

jump and they said how hype. We saw them pursue this extreme Brexit.

What will happen with the DUP and are climate change scepticism? Will

they exact a serious price for the government being propped up? That is

a coalition of chaos. We will be hearing from the DUP later so maybe

we will get some answers to that but thank you for joining us. What I

would like to do is hear from some voters and we can go to York where

one of those big debate took place at the University. Good morning.

Absolutely glorious here in York and life is getting back to normal after

a fairly busy night with some people queueing up ready to go off on a

boat trip. A lot of people wondering what on earth happened last night

and what it means, not least our voters. Good morning, everyone. I

know between you there has not been much sleep! But a quick chat about

how you feel. You were a Labour vote and you look happy. I am very happy

this morning. I regret the fact that we can't be in a position to form a

government but it's a brilliant result from where we were. And you

are a student so how important to get out and vote? Really important.

I was persuading a lot of people to vote no matter what party they were,

it is important that students vote and the turnout has been miserable

previously and nice to see it up. And you were a Ukip supporter but

who did you vote for? I spoiled my ballot. I was very excited that none

could form a government. They were terrible. You have won a Communist

and Theresa May who is censoring the Internet, I don't think either

platform deserves to form a government. But for Ukip is

important to spoil your paper to say something? -- but for you it was

important. You had to register your dismay at the system and the parties

ignoring us. And you have been watching it all night, how are you

feeling, you voted Conservative. I did, with a heavy heart. I feel they

need to get more compassionate and get a social conscience, they are

not listening to what people want but I felt they were the strongest

party on the economy and to lead us into Brexit. I am dismayed at where

we go and how we get through that. And I was talking to you the other

day on Breakfast, a Lib Dem voter, how are you feeling? Bittersweet.

Four games is actually quite good and in new places. -- four gains.

But then Nick Clegg lost his seat. Were you shocked at that? No

comment! You put your head in your hands earlier! I did! Now the

cameras are rolling... But it was devastating because he was the

reason I got infused in politics. Had it changed how you feel about

politics? Not necessarily, it has made me more determined to change

minds. And like these guys, you are young, do you feel there is more

support for Young people now? The weird thing about this election,

after Brexit and the referendum, everybody on my Facebook page

started talking about politics and it was surreal because before that

nothing like that happened. I think Brexit changed a lot of minds and

allowed a lot of people to step into that sphere of politics when they

didn't necessarily want to get involved before or didn't care. And

you are nodding because that is important to you as well? The

enthusiasm for politics. Even if you don't vote Conservative like I do,

you should be involved in politics and make your voice heard because it

is interested in what you are doing even if you are not interested in

politics. Taxes, Internet censorship, day to day life. I'm

obviously disappointed with the result but it is not the overall

majority we wanted but it allows us to look at how Jeremy Corbyn has

done well and it allows to to change for the future and reform the inner

workings of the party and grow for the future pulls up 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 your face! I

don't think it is going to happen. As I said before, I was going to say

2-mac different pages in a book but it is two different books. I highly

doubt it is going to happen. I don't it will either, I don't think it

will be Lib Dems because neither party wants to be in coalition again

after last time and we had to deal with you. It is more likely to be

the DUP which I'm not happy with personally but it is the sensible

solution because they are slightly closer to the Lib Dems. -- than the

Lib Dems. You have bought a comfort cake this morning! You voted

Conservative and you have a cake ready to eat! It was a long night

and a disappointing night with the outcome. Off to work this morning

and I had to buy some comfort food to get me through the day! It is a

mess. For everybody, really. Thank you for joining us, we really

appreciate it, at least we got to sit in the sunshine! That is it from

me for now. Thank you very much and to all of your guests for some

fascinating views. Steph McGovern with some young voters in York. I

mentioned earlier that Jon Ford Jonker, the president of the

European Commission had made a statement -- Jean Claude Junker.

Also on the reactions of Donald Tusk and Michel Barnier on the impact of

this uncertain election on the Brexit presses which is starting

within days and I think we now have a statement from Mr Junker. All

elections are important, not only in so-called big member states, but the

one of yesterday was of particular importance. I do strongly hope that

Britain will stay ready to open negotiations. As far as the

commission is concerned, we can open negotiations tomorrow morning at

half past nine so we are waiting for visitors coming from London. I hope

we will not experience a further delay in the conclusion of this

negotiation. First we have to agree on the divorce and exit modalities

and then we have to envisage the architecture of future relations and

I hope the result of the election will have no major impact on the

negotiations we are desperately waiting for. What do we make of

that? Very carefully worded message from Jean Claude Junker. Slightly

menacing, rubbing our hands, waiting for you, we know you not ready for

us, we are ready for you. There will be a lot of that in the next few

days and a lot depends on whether the plans from the government for

Brexit under David Davies and so forth can go ahead and it will be a

big priority for Theresa May to get those going in an orderly way. There

is a plan and she will hope above all that she can get it going. The

one thing she could rescue from this, if she was the Prime Minister

who negotiated what was widely seen as a successful negotiation we might

start to forget about the disastrous election campaign she has had.

Before we join Andrew Neill, it is surely the case that now that she is

looking at these talks and having to talk to the DUP, that she might

already be having to revise the options or parameters for those

talks. The DUP take a much softer line on the single market for

instance. The view in Downing Street is that we cannot possibly be

members of the single market because that means we could not have control

over EU migration and therefore it is out but the DUP pick a different

view, like the SNP. We might start to the eighth reopening of that

single market question which would drive Nigel Farage and the hard

Brexiteers nuts with furious. Let's join Andrew Neill.

I have Paddy Ashdown with me, Dominic Grieve, John Trickett. I

have been looking at this headline from the London Evening Standard

this morning which said" May hung out to dry". It says knives out for

the Prime Minister after poll disaster. The editor these days is

Mr George Osborne, former Cabinet colleagues. Had she been hung out to

dry? It has been a disappointing result and what she was aiming to

achieve, which was endorsement of the approach the government was

going to take to the Brexit negotiations and the time to do it,

is seriously called into question. One of the consequences of this vote

is that we once again see how Brexit has destabilised the British

political system and when you have revolutionary acts like Brexit, the

trouble is it create a swing the pendulum in another direction and in

this case it has centred on young people mainly who I suspect may not

have been in favour of Brexit, but didn't actually vote in the

referendum, expressing their unhappiness by being attracted to

other options, some of which I think were economically incoherent but

nevertheless attractive. But are the knives out for Mrs May? Not from me.

Seeing that the Queen's government has to be carried on and there is no

party I think apart from the Conservative Party capable of acting

in government, the idea that it would be in the national interest to

change the Prime Minister at this stage seems to be far-fetched. The

Lib Dems hopes to milk the remaining macro constituency to become the

party of the Remain voters but it has not quite worked out. But on the

other hand we have increased our number of MPs bike 50% and name

another party leader who is don't that. We are starting from a small

base, and they are not irrelevant if you are growing not just in numbers

but in ability. You have 13 seats, that's it. Indeed and nobody is

suggesting that is a position that can build a government from

tomorrow... Your leader said there were scores of seed you were going

to win. The party is growing again and it has people with real weight,

Jo Swinson, Vince Cable, they will make a difference. The real

question, and by the way the Evening Standard headline is great, I think

it is George Osborne's revenge and a long time coming but the reality is

the Prime Minister has lost touch with reality. She has no legitimate

democratic credibility at all. She put a proposition to the country

asking for a mandate for a hard Brexit, the country returned a

resounding raspberry and yet she still goes off to see the Queen as

if nothing had happened. Executive is going to be the policy of the

government as a matter of interest? Is it hard Brexit in which case she

is ignoring the fact that the British people have refused to give

her a mandate for that or is it a soft Brexit she will now convert two

in which case you have a Prime Minister who studied at a Remainer,

became a Brexiteer, proposed hard Brexit and is now going to the EU to

say that she wants a soft one! This has all the consistency of the Vicar

of Bray. It is... Did the Vicar of Bray win yesterday? Not by any

manner of means! But she has no democratic legitimacy for 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 in another

Conservative Prime Minister will come along soon and it will. She

cannot last, her position is untenable. This is a position which

she can have no credibility at home and no bargaining power with the EU.

Given the uncertainty, is Labour in a position to form a minority

Government? The first thing is, she is the Prime Minister, I went to the

civil service the other day, in charge of the transition team, had

we won, they made it clear that in the case of a hung parliament... She

has first chance. Look at the mess they're in. They've Brexit on the

19th, Queen's Speech on the same day, by the way. Then on 26th, the

collapse of the possible Northern Irish... Let me come back to the

question. Is Labour in a position to form a minority Government? We

believe we can put together the Queen's Speech which would command a

majority in the House, but that is not our option until she

demonstrates she is incapable of doing it. The constitutional

position is she needs to come to us. There are serious problems she's

created for the country and this Irish problem, she's proposing to

depend on the DUP. 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 MPs? We think we can put together a Queen's

Speech that will command a majority. How with 261 MPs? We think there

will be a wide support for a range of problems facing our country. We

think we can do that. Even if you got all the Lib Dems, Paddy is

shaking his head there, even if you got all the SNP, not as many of them

any more. The one Green. Who else are you going to get? Look, we will

put a proposal to the House if we are given the opportunity by the

Queen. You have told me you think you can get it. Where does the

majority come from? We are not talking about a coalition or

anything like that. I am asking where does the support come from? We

will put the proposals down, if we are given the opportunity by the

Queen and see what happens. If nobody's able to form a Government,

then you know as well as I do, we are back into an election. You think

there may be another election this year? I think there will be an

election. Are you trying to cheer us up or make us miserable! Are we

really going to have a Government that depends on the unionists with a

power-sharing executive about to collapse? It's outrageous. Let me

ask you, Dominic, MrsMay made a calculation which has turned out to

be a massive miscalculation 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 the question, to come back to the point. And

instability. The question is how do we carry on the Queen's Government?

We have an immediate election, not sure the electorate would welcome

that, or we have to try to put together a policy that can be taken

forward. It's quite apparent that only the Conservative Party can do

that. This is fantasy land of Labour to suggest they can put a Government

together. Dominic is right, it is fantasy, but it is also fantasy to

think she can continue. The thing that... You think she should step

down? The thing that frightened me more than anything else, in her

explanation as to why she would see the Queen, she said the country

needs stability. The country was, oh, no, not more MrsMay stability!

There is no Prime Minister we have had, perhaps xepting only MrCameron,

who has given this country so much instability. You were right, it's a

mess. The country is broken. It's fractured. It's adrift. Doesn't know

what to do next. If the Conservative Party want to appeal to Her Majesty

and given a chance to form a Government as they are entitled to

do, they have to choose another leader. Sooner or later they will.

Is there a contest coming up in the Conservative Party? I have no idea,

I have no desire to see it. It will be more levels of disruption and not

sure where the public interest is. We are proposing to have a second

Prime Minister never elected, what a bizarre situation the Conservative

Party are... I want to reflect on this statement, if any is wrong,

just tell me. We have had two Conservative Prime Ministers who

have given this country, insisted on giving this country a vote we

neither needed nor wanted, in the interests of the Conservative Party,

not of the nation. In both cases, we vended up in a bigger mess. 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 is good reasons

why the electorate shouldn't trust any politicians ever again, that's

my anxiety about this, I would like to see some stable Government. It

seems to me that the best way forward is the way that the Prime

Minister's proposed this morning. Everything I hear from you, the

difficulty of Mrs May being the walking wounded, but trying to put a

Government together, and of the real difficulty of MrCorbyn with 261

seats trying to get a programme through parliament, that we are in a

period now of indefinite instability and uncertainty. She is the walking

wounded and who shot her? She shot herself, that's the situation we are

in. She's created, let me finish, created pressure in terms of Brexit.

Nobody decided the time-scale, expect her. Nobody decided the 19th,

it wasn't imposed on her, it was decided with her consent. Nobody

decided the Queen's Speech should be on the same day. All we should be

relying on... You have made the points twice. Yes or no, will there

be another election before the end of the year? God help us, we have

had enough. It looks like it. Dominic? I have no idea, it's

possible. I think so and we have a Labour Government, I am sure of it.

We will see. Huw, back to you. Andrew, thank you. Thank you to your

guests. Well, before we even get to the thought of another election,

there is the point about how they try to construct a Government this

time following this election. 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 she may address

when she speaks later probably in Downing Street within the hour,

probably, on her way to see the Queen at Buckingham Palace. Let's

have the latest intelligence from Belfast on what that DUP mindset

might be going into this and Chris Buckler is there. Northern Ireland

only has 18 MPs and normally they don't matter that much in a

parliament of 650 people but boy do they mat they are time.

Particularly, the ten MPs that the DUP are coming out of this election

with. There is no doubt that the parties have been talking, talking

for sometime, as it is they have a good relationship at Westminster.

Even in 2015 when there was 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. There have been some private negotiations

to ensure that the DUP would back the Tories in some of the votes that

have taken place in the last parliament. Now they say at this

stage talk of a formal agreement is premature. But they accept there

have been talks, there have been soundings and they are trying to

work out some kind of a deal. The big question is what will that be?

Will it be something of confidence and supply, they vote with them? Or

do they want something more formal in return? One thing's for sure they

will want something in return for it. That's likely to be some money

for the economy in Northern Ireland, some money of some sort. And

certainly a say in what happens in terms of the Brexit negotiations.

They believe this could put them into a good position. They are,

frankly, licking their lips at the prospect of being able to have some

kind of ear towards the Prime Minister and a Government. As these

negotiations take place, they have a range of different issues when it

comes to making sure the border is as open as possible, making sure

that potentially money comes in. They are really openly saying they

want to be a part of something here. Thank you very much. Any more, and

we will be back to you. I have a comment here from the Taoiseach, the

Irish Prime Minister and we do know that Nicola Sturgeon, the First

Minister of Scotland, is also making a statement at midday. We hope to

have that live for you. But the comment from the Irish Taoiseach

saying this, the inconclusive outcome of Britain's election

amounts to a rejection of a hard Brexit and provides an opportunity

for Ireland, he says, it's a rejection of a hard Brexit terms,

what do we think of that? Very interesting. Everybody is piling in

with their own interpretation. The truth is if Theresa May has less rum

for negotiations, will find it harder to do compromise deals, that

doesn't mean we will go to a soft Brexit direction, it might head to a

hard Brexit. It depends whose votes in the House of Commons she's most

frightened of. There is firm, clear Brexiteer group in the House of

Commons is better organised in terms of meetings and groups and making

their view felt than anybody on the other side of the arcment. When you

look at that group they're prepared to go out and go after Brexit,

Euroscepticism in a way that they put ahead of the party. Some MPs

might not be prepared to do, but they will. As you say, it depends on

the pressure. We can look at the second edition of the Evening

Standard. The front page, of course the editor is one George Osbourne.

Former Chancellor. Ever since he has taken over that job the headlines

have not been friendly to Theresa May. We now have May's Irish bail

out. I think one of the lines underneath is orange is the new

blue. Pretty provocative, you might add. But certainly true, as has been

discussed by our correspondent there in terms of what they may or may not

want. The timing is critical. She's going, as is convention, going to

the Queen to say she can form this new Government, the DUP are still

talking. They're obviously talking behind the scenes. Meanwhile,

Theresa May has got to put this Government together. Now Steve Hawks

at The Sun has said reshuffle is obviously going to happen for those

ministers lower down the food chain but who lost their seats and she

will be replacing them with people whom again will reflect, interesting

to see how they reflect the Brexit decision and the Brexit discussion.

We can see the reshuffle is certain for this afternoon.

A quick thought, Peter? On the Irish point, it's hard on a morning like

this to find anything consensual, everybody is lined up on the need to

get the Irish thing sorted as quickly as possible, the common

travel area and the rest, the Taoiseach, the Commission, Northern

Ireland people and the Government. I think there are reasons to be

cheerful but then it gets difficult to work out how to do it. But there

is a consensus there in a way there is in other places this morning.

Theresa May's Conservatives notched up 42. 4% of the vote in this

election. It wasn't enough to get them a majority in the Commons. How

does that compare with previous performances? We had a look at

Labour's historic performances earlier with Jeremy. Let's have the

Conservative now. It's a funny situation. In our

system when you have a hung parliament, whether you describe the

party with the most number of seats as having won the election or just

come first or what? Because in a sense you only win by having an

outright majority. Let's try and get context then. Let's see previous

Conservative winners and let's look at the number of seats they got.

Theresa May with 319 in 2017, not an outright majority. That's caused all

the trouble. The majority she threw away, the seats she threw away,

Conservative 331 in 2015, that was David Cameron's shock victory that

put him in control surprisingly in the House of Commons: She will be

ruing that day for the rest of her political career she decided to

revisit that result. She could have stuck with it for five years. She