12 June, 2017
Angela Merkel has said she assumes Britain will stick to its Brexit negotiation plan after the shock election result.
Chancellor Philip Hammond, meanwhile, is reported to have told the Prime Minister that she needed to put "jobs first" in negotiating a new deal with Brussels, in comments seen as a coded attack on her focus on controlling immigration. According to official results, the Conservative Party received 318 seats, the Labour Party came second with 262 seats, and the Scottish National Party is third with 35 seats.
After calling a snap election in a bid to strengthen her hand, Theresa May now faces having to tear up her plans - should she cling on to power long enough to set them in motion.
A spokesman for Mrs Merkel had previously refused to be drawn on the issue out of "politeness and respect" while the process of forming a new United Kingdom government was under way. Both Merkel and Pena Nieto vowed Friday to conclude the expanded deal by the end of the year, as the German leader kicked off a two-day visit to Mexico.
He said he hoped the new Government was one "with which we can conduct serious negotiations and if possible keep Great Britain as close as possible to the European Union".
Former "remain" campaigners plan to stop Theresa May negotiating a hard Brexit, claiming her failure to win a majority gives parliament the right to take charge of the process by which Britain will leave the EU.
Meanwhile, Michael Fuchs, senior economic adviser to the German chancellor, told the BBC the result meant it was time for Mrs May "to face realities" and soften her approach. Bohuslav Sobotka said that too much time had already been wasted.
European Council President Donald Tusk alluded to the March 2019 deadline for Brexit talks.
Other EU leaders have expressed concerns the failure to win a majority may make negotiations even more hard.
Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament's Brexit representative, described the election result as "yet another own goal - after Cameron now May", adding: "I thought surrealism was a Belgian invention".
"As of now, I don't see any obstacles for negotiations to start as expected", said Merkel.
With talks due to start in Brussels in ten days time, Mr Tusk said it was their "urgent task" to get on with the negotiations in "the best possible spirit". We know when they must end.
