What now for Brexit?
The country looks set to have a hung parliament and there are doubts over the future of Theresa May as Prime Minister after she was humiliated by ending up with fewer seats than when she decided to call the election.
With negotiations over Britain leaving the EU due to begin in just 10 days, it is possible the talks could be put back if the formation of a new government becomes protracted.
George Osborne, sacked as chancellor by Theresa May last year, told ITV: “Theresa May is probably going to be one of the shortest serving prime ministers in our history.”
He added: “Hard Brexit went in the rubbish bin tonight.”
The Financial Times said Mrs May’s weak election performance has “thrown Brexit into confusion” and raises the possibility her party won’t allow her to lead the country into negotiations with the EU.
According to The Guardian, a hung parliament could delay the Brexit talks while a coalition government redefines its negotiating positions.
On Thursday night, former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, predicted “messy” times ahead for the UK.
In a tweet he said: “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.”
Commentator Brendan O’Neill, a writer who has championed Brexit for “dragging politics back into the open”, fears that the election result will mean the issue of Brexit will now return to the shadows as deals are cut behind closed doors.
He wrote: “Brexit is now one bargaining chip among many in the process to create a workable government. And the forces of anti-democracy know this. They’re already circling, licking their lips, declaring ‘Hard Brexit is dead.’”
James Landale, the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent, says Britain’s exit from the EU has been plunged into uncertainty because Mrs May has not secured the clear mandate she had wanted for “her version of a hard Brexit.”
He adds: “As a result, it will now be hard for the government - whatever shape that government will be - to start talking to the EU in nine days’ time as planned without rethinking its strategy.”
Landale says the EU will be dismayed by the uncertainty created by the General Election.
“They had hoped Mrs May, with a healthy majority under her belt, would be a strong negotiator, liberated from the strictures of the Brexit ultras in her party.
“Instead, the 27 other EU member states are facing a divided British parliament in a divided Britain.”
He adds: “Theresa May called this election to strengthen Britain’s negotiating hand. She appears to have ended up weakening it.”
