Labour Party stuns Theresa May's Conservatives in United Kingdom elections

When Prime Minister Theresa May called the General Election two months ago, her Conservative Party was polling 24 points ahead, predicted by some to win a parliamentary majority of up to 200 seats. "This is such a big issue, it can't just be the Conservatives at the table", she concluded. The pound lost more than 2 cents against the dollar.

Northern Ireland voted against leaving Europe, and May's Irish partners will nearly certainly demand concessions in return for their support.

Although winning the most seats, her centre-right party lost its majority in parliament, meaning it will now rely on support from Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

If the Labour leader had won seven seats narrowly taken by the Conservatives, he would have had the opportunity to form a "progressive alliance" with all other smaller parties, barring the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

The setback dashes May's hopes to strengthen her hand in the upcoming "Brexit" negotiations with the E.U. Brexit Secretary David Davis suggesting to Sky News that the lost majority could amount to the Tories losing their mandate for a "hard Brexit"- where the country would leave both the EU's single market and its customs union.

May's authority over her party was shattered by the election result. "Our leader needs to take stock as well".

Left-wing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was among those calling on May to resign, said Friday morning that people have had enough of austerity politics and cuts in public spending. He ruled out the potential for deals or pacts with other progressive parties in Parliament. Whereas Theresa May rigidly stuck to the soundbites and the choreographed election campaign devoid of "real people", Mr Corbyn went out to the masses and it worked.

The results confounded those who said Corbyn was electorally toxic.

As she was resoundingly re-elected to her Maidenhead seat in southern England, May looked tense and did not spell out what she planned to do.

He faced intense opposition from the right-wing tabloid press and from the Evening Standard, newly edited by former Treasury chief George Osborne, a Conservative Party stalwart.

Although the campaign proved more exciting than anyone could have anticipated, the European media was wearily resigned to two possible outcomes.

The Scottish National Party lost more than 20 seats to knock the party down to 35 seats.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said the idea of a new independence referendum "is dead". "We have to wait and see how things shake out". "And with Theresa May having already triggered Article 50, meaning that the clock is ticking towards the United Kingdom leaving the European Union at the end of March 2019 before calling what always looked to be a very reckless election", said Grant Lewis, head of research at Daiwa Capital Markets.

"We're in another mess again, and probably we're going to have to have another election, and it's all such a waste of time at the end of the day", said 85-year-old Londoner Patricia Nastri. "So let's not kid ourselves", he said.

"This will allow us to come together as a country and channel our energies towards a successful Brexit deal".

European Union budget commissioner Guenther Oettinger said the European Union is prepared to stick to the timetable that calls for negotiations to start in mid-June, but said it would take a few hours at least to see how the results of the election play out in forming a government. Members of her own party denounced the campaign she ran as "dreadful". As the polls suggested a tightening race, pollsters spoke less often of a landslide and raised the possibility that May's majority would be eroded.

It is too early to say with any certainty what the change from a majority to minority government will mean to Brexit.

Last Saturday, three assailants wearing fake suicide vests mowed down pedestrians and launched a stabbing rampage around London Bridge, killing eight people before being shot dead by police.

A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a pop concert in Manchester on May 22, killing 22 people. When voters stunned him and Europe by voting to leave, he resigned, leaving May to deal with the mess. "I don't think they are fully aware of that, clearly they need to be doing it better", Goodman added.

"The prime minister called the election because she wanted a mandate", Corbyn said.