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Democratic Unionists in Northern Ireland may be election key

Mrs May’s joint chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill resigned amid intense Tory criticism in the wake of the snap election which saw the Prime Minister lose her Commons majority.

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May’s Conservatives failed to secure an absolute majority in a parliamentary election on Thursday and need the DUP’s 10 seats to be sure of being able to form a government.

The Tories needed 326 seats to win another majority but they fell short and must rely on the DUP to continue to rule.

It said the campaign failed to get “Theresa’s positive plan for the future across” or “notice the surge in Labour support, because modern campaigning techniques require ever-narrower targeting of specific voters, and we were not talking to the people who chose to vote for Labour”.

With the party in a position to hold the balance of power at Westminster, senior MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party would be “serious players” in a hung parliament.

In a sombre speech after retaining her seat, Mrs May said: “The country needs a period of stability and, whatever the results are, the Conservative party will fulfil our duty of ensuring that stability so we can all go forward together”.

This will allow us to come together as a country and channel our energies towards a successful Brexit deal that works for everyone in this country. But I’m pretty sure there would be a huge public outcry if we ended up with just suspension and the continuation of salaries and assorted perks.

Another Northern Ireland environment minister, Mark Durkan, of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, has described the lack of a policies to address climate change as an “embarrassment” to Stormont.

“We want there to be a government”.

She now risks more opposition to her Brexit plans from inside and outside her party.

The party backed Brexit, and as openDemocracy exposed earlier in the year, accepted a donation of £435,000 to pay for campaign materials across the UK.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) said DUP “extremists” should not be allowed to threaten United Kingdom abortion law.

Meanwhile, the Scottish National Party retained just 35 of the 56 seats it secured two years ago, and lost its Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, and former first minister, Alex Salmond.

Election fatigue has been one of the explanations offered for what was a low-key campaign in the region.

The Democratic Unionist Party, which increased its representation at Westminster from eight to 10, has signalled it is ready to discuss working with Tories on issues such as Brexit and keeping the United Kingdom together. “What’s happened is people have said they’ve had quite enough of austerity politics”.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, riding a wave of acclaim for his party’s unexpectedly strong showing, called on May to resign.

“Yet another own goal, after Cameron now May”, tweeted Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s negotiator for Brexit.

The Democratic Unionist Party now look like the Tories preferred coalition partners.

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The DUP are the reason Northern Ireland hasn’t legalised same-sex marriage, and it’s the only place on the British Isles that hasn’t yet done so.

UK election results 2017 Theresa May's gamble backfires as Britain heads for hung parliament