Theresa May: I wanted different result, but now I’ll lead

Exit polls indicated early Thursday that’s what will happen. Almost 13 million people voted for us to do it. And after that, she never really recovered.

After the vote, May said what the United Kingdom needed now “more than anything else, is period of stability”, suggesting she doesn’t intend to heed calls from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – and others within her party – for her to step down. And they also harnessed social media.

“We want to end austerity and invest in this country and that’s what we’re going to do”. And there was a big surge of young voters for Jeremy Corbyn, which was quite an invigorating thing to see in this country. With just 10 members of Parliament, the DUP doesn’t wield much power on its own – but those seats, if they vote with May’s party, have the power to push the Conservatives over the threshold to a functioning government. Reports say the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland is prepared to support May without a formal coalition agreement.

PARKER: Well, they will for sure.

Oil prices remained subdued with Brent having settled at its lowest since November 29, the eve of an OPEC production cut deal. And the Democratic Unionist Party want what most parties want.

He said the Conservative election manifesto – which Hill and Timothy were key in drafting – was “a full assault on the core Tory voters, who are senior citizens”.

For the DUP, there are risks locally if they are part of a government that imposes unpopular cuts locally, especially if there is no return of the mothballed Northern Ireland Assembly and direct rule makes a comeback.

Northern Ireland is the only place in the British Isles where same-sex marriage is not yet legal.

However, on opposition days, where subjects chosen by the opposition are debated, the DUP voted against the government on 14 of the 20 occasions (70%) where the majority of both blocs of MPs voted. Now, that will be controversial, of course, because there are lots of public services in England, Scotland and Wales which are underfunded.

“As more results started to come through, it became clear that we were the party that had won most seats and most votes and felt it was incumbent on us at a critical time in our the country to form a government in the national interest”, she said.

Currently, investors seem to worry that a weakened Conservative prime minister would not have the power to resist calls from some within the party who want a clean divorce from the European Union, even if that means losing privileged access to the European Union single market.

“She has been found out, she should be ashamed”, he said.

But Mr Corbyn said: “I don’t think Theresa May and this government have any credibility”.

Senior Tory figures also cast doubts about May’s leadership. They could have asked for a second general election.

“Referencing a campaign trail comment she made, he wrote: “‘I will be a bloody hard woman to Junker’ said May 5 weeks ago. We have to stand by that, and many of our constituents expect us to implement this clean, effective Brexit and an effective new relationship with the EU. It’s not going to be revisited no matter how this election sorts out?

“You really couldn’t make it up”.

If she is to succeed in delivering the end of Britain’s European Union membership which 52 percent of the British public demanded previous year, she must find a way to recapture the full support of her party because she will need their votes to pass legislation preparing for and ultimately enacting the departure.

The election on the other hand was a baptism of fire for recently-appointed Ulster Unionist leader Robin Swann, who replaced Mike Nesbitt.

There had been speculation that Mr Hammond in particular would be vulnerable if the Prime Minister had been returned – as she had hoped – with an increased majority.

May spoke to the Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny over the phone on Sunday. That marks a big change because I’m afraid that political parties have taken the youth vote very much for granted.

The distraction of ongoing negotiations in London and the strength of the vote for each party in Thursday’s election will do little to encourage compromise, according to political analysts.