Election 2017 live updates: Theresa May claims Conservative government supported by DUP will provide 'certainty'
The Independent will be bringing you all the live updates as the UK's next government is formed
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Theresa May has said she will form a Conservative government backed by the DUP, claiming it can bring "certainty" to the UK.
After visiting the Queen, the Prime Minister claimed there was a "strong relationship" between the two parties, amid concern over the DUP's controversial anti-abortion and anti-LGBT policies.
The PM has also apologised to Conservatives who lost last night. She said: "I'm sorry for all those colleagues who lost their seats." She will "reflect on what we need to do in the future to take the party forward" after the result, she added.
The UK voted for a hung parliament after shock losses for the Conservatives in the 2017 general election. With 649 of 650 seats declared, the Tories had 318 seats - eight short of the figure needed to win outright - with Labour on 261, the SNP on 35 and Liberal Democrats on 12.
Jeremy Corbyn's party increase its share of the vote by 9.6 per cent, while the Tories were up 5.5 per cent, the Liberal Democrats, Greens and SNP saw small loses and Ukip's vote collapsed.
The live blog has now ended
Politicians, voters, and even their pets have been heading to polling stations and are posing for the cameras at every opportunity.
The Prime Minister has made clear that she would rely on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party in order to get her programme through Parliament, despite concern over its stance on issues including equal marriage, abortion and climate change.
Making no allusion to losses suffered by the Conservatives, Ms May said she intended to press ahead with her plans for Brexit.
She faced calls from within her own party to consider her own position after the election, which she brought forward by three years in the hope it would deliver an increased majority in the Commons.
Jeremy Corbyn urged her to resign and allow him to form a minority administration, declaring: “We are ready to serve this country.”
But, after intensive talks with the DUP, the Prime Minister instead drove the short distance to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen for permission to form a new government.
The final election results came in late on Friday, after Kensington finally declared a Labour win — with a tiny 20-vote majority. They were:
Young people have been tweeting about their votes for different parties...
If you are planning to stay up tonight to watch the results, here are the key seats to look out for:
In yet another sign that Ukip's electoral glory days are perhaps behind them, the former leader and best known face of the party is at the Global Investment Forum rather than out on the campaign trail
A reminder that Ukip's current leader, Paul Nuttall, is running in Boston & Skegness which is expected to declare at 5am.
The year since the EU referendum have not been kind to the party as they have lost their only MP when Douglas Carswell defected and have been unable to win by-elections in stronger pro-Leave constituencies.
Nuttall in particularly has had embarrassing few months after he was accused of lying about being at the Hillsborough disaster and losing a close personal friend. He was also accused of lying about living in Stoke during a recent by-election there.
In 2015, Ukip won over three million votes and came third overall in terms of vote share even though they only got one seat. But the final ComRes poll for The Independent published on Wednesday suggested their support had slumped to just five per cent.
Ukip has not put up as many candidates as 2015, with many local constituencies withdrawing to help the Conservatives where they have a pro Brexit candidate but many voters also do not know the point of the party after their many reason for existing has been achieved.
If you are still unsure who to vote for, have no fear there are still five hours left until polling closes.
Here is our guide to the main parties' policies:
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