The Conservatives, under Prime Minister Theresa May, had been widely tipped to achieve a landslide in the Election.
The General Election has ended in a hung parliament after no single party was able to gain a clear majority.
The Conservatives, under Prime Minister Theresa May, had been widely tipped to achieve a landslide in the Election with the Labour Party being consumed by infighting and suffering from a poor showing at the recent Council Elections.
However Theresa May is now facing a mounting backlash over her "catastrophic" election campaign after her snap election gamble failed to pay off.
The Conservatives are still the largest party in the Commons but lost 26 seats to Labour and five to the Liberal Democrats - leaving them someway short of the 236 seats needed for a majority.
The poor show led former Labour leader Ed Milliband to lambaste the Prime Minister.
He said: "We know Theresa May can't now negotiate Brexit for Britain because she told us losing majority would destroy her authority---and it has."
Whilst current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called on May to resign with just 11 days left untilBrexit talks are due to begin.
Corbyn said:"The Prime Minister called the election because she wanted a mandate.
"Well the mandate she's got is lost Conservative seats, lost votes, lost support and lost confidence. I would have thought that is enough for her to go actually."
The result sees a number of senior Tories lose their seats this morning including Housing Minister, and author of "How to Win a Marginal Seat", Gavin Barwell who has lost his marginal seat in Croydon.
Andrew Montlake, director at Coreco, tweeted: "This all started because Cameron thought UKIP were actually a threat - ridiculous and a litany of poor advice and bad decisions by Tories."
Big hitters have also failed in other parties with former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg losing to Labour in Sheffield Hallam and former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmon losing his seatto the Conservatives.
Brexit
The result is also likely tobe seen as a disaster in Brussels where European bigwigs hadbeen eager to get on with Brexit negotiations with a Prime Minister in fullcommand of her political party.
Former Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt tweeted: “[This] could be messy for the United Kingdom in the years ahead. One mess risks following another. Price to be paid for lack of true leadership.”
Sophie in ‘t Veld†, the Dutch MEP tasked withexamining the UK’s treatment of EU nationals, added: “Cameron gambled, lost. May gambled, lost. Tory party beginning to look like a casino.”
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage also expressed doubts about the negotiations moving forward. He said: "Article 50 had been triggered and we were on our way. May has put all this in jeopardy. Even David Davis is now making Brexit concessions."
The Conservativeswill now be reliant on other members of parliament to push through the negotiations with a working agreement with the 10 Democratic Unionist Party members of the house most likely.
However DUP leader Arlene Foster has said the party, faced with the prospect of being election ‘kingmakers’, will do what is best for the people of Northern Ireland.
Speaking to ITVFoster said: “We always make our presence known at Westminster, and now there’s probably an opportunity to make it even more known at Westminster.
“We did have a lot of influence in the past and we will have influence again in the future.”
The Prime Minister is expected to speak later this morning.
