File photo taken on April 18, 2017 shows British Prime Minister Theresa May speaking to media outside 10 Downing Street as she calls a snap general election in London, Britain. Prime Minister Theresa May is on course to lose her overall majority in the British general election, according to an exit poll released as soon as voting finished on June 8, 2017. The poll, commissioned by Britain's main broadcasters, showed May's Conservatives would have 314 seats and Labour is projected to come second with 266 seats. (Xinhua)
LONDON, Jun 9 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May is to stay on at 10 Downing Street despite suffering major losses in the general election, her aides announced Friday.
Although May's Conservatives have won more seats than any other party, she did not cross the line that would have given her a majority government.
May and her advisors have spent the morning talking with leaders of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland. The two parties are closely allied.
With one result to be declared, the Conservatives have won 318 seats, gaining 20, losing 32 giving them an overall loss of 12. The DUP won two seats, giving them 10 in the House of Commons.
Those 10 seats, added to the Conservative total, would give May more than the 326 votes she needs to guarantee her policies are approved.
It would give May a narrower margin than the 17 margin she had before the election. Ironically, May will also be helped by the success in Northern Ireland of the pro-republican Sinn Fein Party. They won seven seats, an increase of three, but as Sinn Fein MPs never take up their seats in Westminster that will provide a cushion for May.
Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, arrived at the Labour Party headquarters in London where he was applauded and cheered by a large crowd.
Labour have won 261 seats, gaining 36, losing 5, giving them an overall increase of 31.
Even Owen Smith, the Labour MP who challenged Corbyn for the leadership last year accepted that he had run a successful campaign. Instead of masses losses predicted ahead of the election, Corbyn was hailed by supporters as a conquering hero for increasing the Labour vote.
Some of his supporters flirted with the idea of Corbyn forming a minority government with the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) but that would not give Labour the numbers it needs to be effective. Had the SNP hung on to its more than 50 Westminster MPs, a Lab-SNP coalition could have worked, but in the event Nicola Sturgeon's SNP lost 19 of its seats in the House of Commons.
Around 12:30 pm local time May was heading to Buckingham Palace for an audience with Queen Elizabeth to ask for permission to form a government.
Later Friday May is expected to outline her proposals outside 10 Downing Street.
The first casualty of the results is Paul Nuttall, leader of UKIP, the party set up to campaign for Britain to leave the European Union. The party did not win a single seat in the election, with poor results across the country. It seemed many UKIP supporters deserted the party and voted instead for Conservatives or Labour.
