May to form new government with help of DUP

International Desk: British Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged to form a government that will provide "certainty" and guide the country through Brexit, after voters delivered her party a huge blow at the polls.

May, who visited Buckingham Palace to meet with Queen Elizabeth II Friday, said she would work with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, which she described as her "friends and allies".

Promising to move towards a Brexit deal, enabling Britain to exit the European Union, May said the new government would "be able to work together in the interests of the whole United Kingdom."

But Brexit talks -- which are due to start in 10 day's time -- could be delayed and the Prime Minister's personal authority undermined by the shock result.

In a night of high drama, May's party shed seats to Jeremy Corbyn's Labour, which surpassed expectations, leaving the Conservatives short of a working majority by just eight seats.

The result is an embarrassing turn for May who called the election three years earlier than required, to give her side a strong negotiating hand in Brexit negotiations.

One of the lead negotiators for the European Union, Guy Verhofstadt, criticized May on Twitter, writing: "Yet another own goal, after Cameron now May, will make already complex negotiations even more complicated."

Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, added: "We don't when Brexit talks start. We know when they must end."

The result also prompted criticism of May from within her own ranks as well as from the opposition.

George Osborne, the former finance minister who stepped down at the election, told ITV that the results were "catastrophic" for his party. Anna Soubry, a Conservative MP, said May would have to consider her position.

Conservative MP Nigel Evans told CNN his party shot itself "in the head" with an "irrelevant" manifesto, which was peppered with "arsenic".

Meanwhile, Corbyn said the early results showed May had lost her mandate and called for her to resign.

"People have said they have had quite enough of austerity politics," he said, repeating his campaign promises to push for better funding for health and education.

Agencies


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