Acosta mine: Are coal jobs returning to the US?

At Lisa Maurer's Ford dealership in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, trucks are her bread and butter. When a young person lands his first well-paying job, one of the first things they do is buy a pick-up. The trucks are useful for navigating the rugged Allegheny Mountain terrain and the intense snowy winters.
"It's kind of part of the culture here," says Maurer.
So it was clear to her how bad things had gotten two years ago, when young coal miners she'd sold brand new trucks to just a day or two earlier started bringing them back. At the time, it seemed like a new coal company was declaring bankruptcy every week and the laid-off miners weren't able to make the payments.
But now, for the first time in roughly seven years, a brand new coal mine is opening in Somerset County - the Acosta deep mine, just three miles from Maurer's dealership.
"We're hopeful - it means we're going to have things happening again," she says. "Everybody's excited."
Maurer has deep roots in coal. Her great-great grandfather emigrated from Slovakia to work in the mines, her grandfather and father opened their own mines, and now her 29-year-old son operates machinery in a mine. In 2002, her brother-in-law was one of nine men who were trapped for three days in a flooded mine shaft 240 feet under the ground. Miraculously, they all survived - some even went back to work.


Mining in Somerset County goes back a century and a half. Some of the tiny towns that dot the rolling, lush hillsides have identical houses, built decades earlier by coal companies for their workers. Though the towns are spread out with expanses of farmland separating them, it's a tight-knit community where everyone can feel when times are good for their neighbours or when they are very, very bad.
"Small things impact the economy here … it all swims around," says Tina Buckham, owner of the Flyin' Lion Pub & Eatery in Jennerstown, about five miles from the mine. "Everybody has family that works in coal, honey."
Thanks to a combination of factors, particularly fracking and the low price of natural gas, the coal industry hit a 30-year production low in 2015. Some believe that in addition, the Obama-era climate regulations caused a crisis of confidence in investors. Coal companies started going bankrupt. Mines shut their doors. And the effects rippled through the community - trucking companies laid off their drivers. Two restaurants - local institutions - shuttered. The Maurer dealership changed its inventory from new to more used vehicles.


"It was like a switch was flipped," says Maurer. "The last few years have been really tough and sad. There's a little glimmer of hope now."
The brand new Acosta Coal Mine is a 120-foot-deep rectangle gouged out of a south-facing hillside looking down on the valley below. Near the base is a stripe of jet black coal that the mine's parent company, Corsa Coal, will sell for metallurgical purposes - producing steel - rather than for energy production.
"We're putting a lot of people to work here," says Ben Gardner, the mine engineer, who says at its peak the mine could employ as many as 150 people. "That's 150 families all with a very good job to support them - myself included … It definitely helps for places that were hit by the hard times."
Two days before it's set to open, federal and state inspectors in hard hats take a final look at the operations at the bottom of the pit. A centipede-like piece of equipment called the continuous miner sits silent and still beside them, ready to chew through the coal seam that runs from the mouth of the mine and underground for nearly eight miles. When it's fully operational, Corsa projects the mine will produce 400,000 tonnes of coal a year.
At the lip of the mine is a wooden platform that looks down into the pit, built especially for a cookout and a ribbon-cutting ceremony set to take place on 8 June. There's an American flag nailed to the front, and tucked away underneath, a handwritten poster that reads, "TRUMP TOWER" - someone's idea of a joke, Gardner says.
On 1 June, in an address to the nation from the Rose Garden, President Donald Trump formally announced the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. Sandwiched between his criticisms of the deal and other member countries for supposedly cheering the US' "economic disadvantage", Trump made an off-hand comment about Acosta.
"The mines are starting to open up. We're having a big opening in two weeks," he said. "For many, many years, that hasn't happened. They asked me if I'd go. I'm going to try."


Although it's unlikely that the president will make an appearance on that wooden platform, Maurer was surprised and elated when she heard his remark.
"That was huge, everyone was caught off-guard," she says. "We feel like we've been thrown away. Our children don't matter, our grandchildren don't matter. And when Trump mentioned us, that was awesome."
Although the mine has been in the works for years - Corsa Coal obtained its permits in 2013 - the company says investors feel more comfortable putting their money into coal because of new administration.
The mine is projected to hire between 70 to 150 workers - sceptics say that's just a drop in the bucket when you consider the hundreds of lay-offs which took place over the last several years. However, it's also the first bit of good news in the industry that Somerset County residents have received in a long time.
Doug Miller, a controller at James F Barron Trucking which primarily transports coal, says for the first time in years, they're hiring instead of laying drivers off.
"We know we're going to have a future here," he says.
Electrical contractors, cement layers, excavators and lumberyards have already been put to work thanks to the new mine. Proponents are fond of saying that a single mining job creates four others throughout the community - waitresses and gas station attendants, housekeeping staff at the hotels in Somerset and ski instructors at the area's three ski resorts.
But mixed in amongst the optimism are people who've been battered and bruised by layoffs and industry uncertainty, who don't want to rely on the mercurial global markets, or the whims of a presidential administration to dictate whether or not they'll have food on the table.
One coal miner who asked to BBC to omit his name says he was laid off after more than 20 years in the industry and that he would not take a job at the new mine even if they offered it to him.
"I'll move away from here and go do something, I'm not afraid," he says.
He worries for a friend he knows who got one of the new jobs at Acosta.
"I'm really glad he has a job there, he has three, four kids," he says. "But you know, you look him in the eye and he knows he's two pay checks away from everything being gone."
People like restaurant owner Tina Buckham are also sceptical of the idea that there is a great resurgence of the coal industry on the horizon, and nervous about her own razor-thin margins. Although she would love to see all the old mines open up their doors, she's more concerned about the lack of infrastructure in the area - the sole internet provider and the sometimes spotty mobile service. 

We have great, hardworking guys and women - they just want good jobs. So we need to have the infrastructure in place to attract the jobs," she says. "I don't think that the whole community is thinking this is the only thing that we can do here. We can do a lot of stuff because we have a lot of really great people."
And unlike some of the younger people and out-of-work miners who've decided to pick up their roots and seek a better life elsewhere, Somerset County is Buckham's home. She's lived in the area her whole life. Her neighbours as a kid are still her neighbours today.
"I'm here on purpose, in this little town. I like it," she says. "I'm hoping I survive it, but I like it."
Back at the car lot, Maurer is hoping Acosta means good things for her bottom line.
"There's a feeling that things are going to get moving again there are signs that the interest is coming back," she says. She feels "cautiously optimistic" but hasn't made any plans to bring in new inventory or hire more staff.
"To get to where we feel comfortable, we've got to get more than one mine opening," she says.


BBC NEWS

London attack: Men 'planned to use 7.5 tonne lorry'

The London Bridge attackers tried to hire a seven-and-a-half tonne lorry to carry out their attack, police say.
But the three men failed to provide payment details and the vehicle was not picked up, prompting them to use a smaller van from a DIY store instead.
The men drove into pedestrians on the bridge before stabbing people in Borough Market seven days ago.
Police said the men tied 12in (30cm) pink ceramic knives to their wrists and had petrol bombs in the van.
Eight people were killed and dozens more were injured in the attack, which began shortly before 22:00 BST on 3 June.
Khuram Shazad Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba have been named as the attackers, who were all shot dead.
Scotland Yard wants more witnesses to come forward and is also appealing to companies who hire out vans to report any suspicious activity.
Early on Saturday, police said they had arrested a man, 27, on suspicion of preparing terrorists acts, after carrying out a raid in Ilford, east London, linked to the attack.
In its most detailed description of the attack yet, the Metropolitan Police said the men had also rented a flat in Barking, east London, to use as a safe house.
Inside, they found a copy of the Koran opened at a page describing martyrdom.
They also discovered equipment for making petrol bombs, plastic bottles and duct tape for constructing fake suicide bomb belts, and an ID card for Redouane.
Forensic work at this flat has determined that they acted alone.
Image copyright Met Police
 
 The investigation has concluded that 27-year-old Butt was the ringleader. He hired the van used in the attack from a B&Q store in Romford on the morning of the attack.
He is thought to have driven the van, with Redouane and Zaghba in the back, into central London.
At two minutes before 22:00 BST, the van crossed London Bridge heading south. Six minutes later it returned, crossing over the bridge again and making a U-turn at the northern end.
The attack began with the van driving back along the pavements of the bridge, running down three pedestrians before crashing outside the Barrowboy and Banker pub opposite London Bridge station.
The men jumped out clutching the ceramic kitchen knives. Police say the weapons were possibly chosen to prevent them being picked up by metal detectors.
They stabbed five people who had been enjoying the area's pubs and restaurants.


Police were called within two minutes and arrived eight minutes later, killing the attackers in what officers said was an "unprecedented" volley of 46 bullets.
When briefing reporters, Commander Dean Haydon said the police - from the Met and City of London forces - had shown "incredible bravery".
He added: "We have stories of people armed with chairs, bottles, anything they could get their hands on with a view to trying to prevent the attackers coming to pubs and bars but also scaring them off to prevent other people being attacked."
He detailed the actions of four people who put their lives at risk to fight back and help the injured:
  • A doctor at a restaurant heard screaming and "with no regard for his own safety" ran outside to pick up an injured man and carry him across the bridge
  • A public relations consultant heard the van crashing and gave first aid to a man who'd been stabbed - despite the danger
  • A restaurant worker tried to fight off an attacker who came in and stabbed a young woman in the back
  • An off-duty police officer was stabbed in the stomach as he tried to disarm one of the attackers
The massive police investigation into the attack continues and by Saturday there had been 19 arrests and 13 buildings had been searched.
So far, 282 witnesses from 19 countries have been questioned but police still want more people who saw what happened to come forward.
In the back of the white Renault van used in the attack officers found wine bottles filled with a flammable liquid with rags tied to their necks. There were blow torches for lighting these "Molotov cocktails". 

 Image copyright Met Police


 The three men had added bags of building gravel and several chairs - possibly to suggest a reason for having hired the van.
Scotland Yard said it wanted to hear from anyone renting vans who might have suspicions about a customer.
Police are also appealing for information about the "distinctive" pink "Ernesto" brand knives the men were carrying.
They said they had not found evidence of anyone else being involved in the plot - or inspiring the attackers to carry it out.
The Met revealed Butt had been arrested for bank fraud in October 2016 but was not charged. He had been opening accounts and closing them again, possibly to launder money.
Police also confirmed there had been a call about him to an anti-terrorism hotline, but no evidence was gi
However when he appeared in a Channel 4 documentary, The Jihadis Next Door, last year, officers did view the programme. They decided it was "deeply abhorrent" but not evidence of criminality.
Mr Haydon described the current terror alert as "unprecedented times". Since March, there have been five planned attacks of which two were prevented and three carried out - in Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge.
"The tempo has increased," he said, adding that officers at Britain's intelligence services were "working flat out".
"Hostile Vehicle Mitigation Barriers" have been added to central London bridges to prevent vehicles being driven onto the pavement.
Meanwhile, police are working with "iconic venues" and music festivals to improve their security over the summer.
ven that he was planning an attack.

BBC NEWS

The end of the Anglo-American order?

T bhere has always been a shared conceit at the heart of the special relationship between the United States and United Kingdom that global leadership isest expressed and exerted in English.
More boastful than the Brits, successive US presidents have trumpeted the notion of American exceptionalism.
Prime ministers, in a more understated manner, have also come to believe in British exceptionalism, the idea that Westminster is the mother parliament, and that the UK has a governing model and liberal values that set the global standard for others to follow, not least its former colonies.
In the post-war Anglo-American order those ideas came together. In many ways, it was the product of Anglo-American exceptionalist thinking: the "city upon a hill" meets "this sceptred isle".
Nato, the IMF, the World Bank and the Five Eyes intelligence community all stemmed from the Atlantic Charter signed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in August 1941.
The liberalised free trade system that flourished after the war is often called the Anglo-Saxon model. The post-world global architecture, diplomatic, mercantile and financial, was largely an English-speaking construct.
Image copyright Getty Images
 
In recent weeks, however, the Anglo-American order has looked increasingly weak and wobbly. The unexpectedly messy result of the British election makes it look still more fragile, like a historic edifice left tottering in the wake of a major quake.
There is uncertainty in Westminster, and something nearing chaos in Washington because of Russian probe at the White House and on Capitol Hill.
Neither Britain nor America can boast strong and stable governments. Neither have the look of global exemplars.
In the six weeks since Theresa May called her snap election, the global tectonic plates have shifted fast, leaving Britain and America increasingly adrift.
Donald Trump, during his first international trip, refused to publicly endorse Article V of the Nato treaty and publicly scolded his allies over financial burden sharing.
He found himself isolated at the G7 summit in Sicily. Then, on his return to Washington, came the announcement that the United States would withdraw from the Paris agreement, a decision of massive planetary and geopolitical import.
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Here, America First meant America alone, and Trump seemed to revel in his neo-isolationism - as he did when he withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership early in his presidency.
For Britain, the diplomatic impact of Brexit has also become clearer in recent weeks. EU leaders have bluntly outlined how they will set the terms of the divorce settlement, in what looks more and more like a diktat than an amicable separation.
The 26 remaining members of the EU have also made it clear they intend to penalise the UK.
When Jean-Claude Juncker met Theresa May at Downing Street shortly after she called the election, he was evidently dismayed by her approach.
"I'm leaving Downing Street 10 times more sceptical than I was before," the EU Commission president reportedly informed his host.
As one senior EU diplomat put it to me: "Britain has shot itself in one foot. We intend to shoot you in the other."
The British prime minister, by failing to win an election she didn't have to call, has weakened her bargaining position still further. Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt has already called the UK election: "Yet another own goal."
Image copyright Reuters  
 
 n recent weeks it is not only the UK's relations with the EU that have become more strained. Its cherished trans-Atlantic alliance has also been subject to some unforeseen stress tests. I never expected to report that Britain would stop sharing sensitive intelligence with the United States, but that was the story we broke in the aftermath of the Manchester bombing.
Then, following the London attack, came Donald Trump's Twitter assault on the London Mayor Sadiq Khan. Again, in the pre-Trump world it would have been unthinkable for a US President to mount such a vicious attack on a British mayor in the wake of a UK terror attack.
Sir Christopher Meyer, Britain's former ambassador in Washington, seemed to capture the public mood when he noted: "Trump makes me puke."
The prime minister steered clear of delivering a stiff public rebuke to the President over his attack on Mayor Khan, presumably out of fear of angering Donald Trump and jeopardising a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.
Perhaps this also explained why she didn't join with Germany, France and Italy in signing a joint declaration slamming Trump's Paris decision.
But again that emphasises Britain's weakness. The special relationship has always been an asymmetrical relationship but now it seems even more lop-sided. It speaks of the UK's post-Brexit diplomacy of desperation.
The trans-Atlantic alliance will eventually have to deal with a longer-term problem that will outlast the Trump administration. One of Britain's great uses to Washington in recent decades has been as a bridge to the European Union.
It's why Barack Obama lobbied so hard for a 'remain' vote ahead of last year's referendum. Under future US presidents, it is easy to imagine a German-American alliance supplanting the special relationship.
Voids in global leadership are immediately filled, and we've seen that happen at warp speed over the past few weeks. Brexit has galvanised the European Union. The election of Emmanuel Macron has revitalised the Franco-German alliance, giving it a more youthful and dynamic look. 

Post-Paris, a green alliance has emerged between Beijing and Brussels. More broadly, China sees the chance to extend its sphere of influence, positioning itself on environmental issues as the international pace-setter. Even before Mr Trump took the oath of office, this looked more likely to be the Asian Century rather than a repeat of the American Century.
Europe eyes an enhanced role for itself, too. "We Europeans must really take our fate into our own hands," declared Angela Merkel during a speech in a Bavarian beer hall after the disastrous G7 summit.
In a pointed dig at America and Britain, she also warned that the days when Germany could completely rely on others are "over to a certain extent".
More and more, the German chancellor looks like the leader of the free world, something that would have required a massive leap of imagination in the years immediately after World War II, when the English-speaking liberal global order was taking shape. 


Winston Churchill, during the 1946 speech in Fulton, Missouri, in which he coined the phrase "special relationship" (and also the "iron curtain"), noted: "It is necessary that constancy of mind, persistency of purpose, and the grand simplicity of decision shall guide and rule the conduct of the English-speaking peoples in peace as they did in war. We must, and I believe we shall, prove ourselves equal to this severe requirement."
Right now, both the United States and the United Kingdom seem to be failing that Churchillian test.
These English-speaking nations no longer speak with such a clarion voice, and the rest of the world no longer takes such heed.
A new world order seems to be emerging that is being articulated in other tongues.

BBC NEWS

Trump: I would speak under oath on Comey

US President Donald Trump says he is "100%" willing to speak under oath about his conversations with ex-FBI chief James Comey.
Speaking at the White House, he denied having asked for Mr Comey's loyalty or for an inquiry into a former White House aide to be dropped.
"James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said, and some of the things he said just weren't true," Mr Trump said.
Meanwhile, a congressional panel asked for any tapes of their conversations.
Mr Comey says Mr Trump fired him because of his Russia inquiry.
The former FBI chief was investigating an alleged Kremlin plot to sway last year's US election in favour of Mr Trump, and whether there was any collusion with the president or his campaign staff.
On Thursday, Mr Comey testified to one of several congressional committees that is also looking into the Russia claims.
He said the president had pressured him to drop a probe into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, whom Mr Trump fired for misleading the White House over contacts with Moscow's ambassador.
Under oath, the former FBI director also told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the president had asked him during a one-to-one dinner at the White House to pledge loyalty.
Nearly 20 million US television viewers tuned in to the explosive testimony.
At a press conference on Friday afternoon in the Rose Garden with the visiting president of Romania, Mr Trump rejected Mr Comey's claims.
He said the former FBI director's testimony showed there was "no collusion, no obstruction". Mr Comey told senators he had assured the president he himself was not under scrutiny over Russia.
The US president was asked by a journalist if he would be willing to give his version of events under oath.
"One hundred per cent," Mr Trump said.
"I hardly know the man [Mr Comey]," he said. "I'm not going to say, 'I want you to pledge allegiance.'
"Who would do that? Who would ask a man to pledge allegiance under oath? I mean, think of it.
I hardly know the man. It doesn't make sense."
When asked about whether he had recordings of his conversations with Mr Comey, which he has previously hinted, the president said he would address it at a later date.
"I'll tell you something about that maybe sometime in the very near future," he said on Friday. "I'll tell you about it over a short period of time. I'm not hinting at anything."
Shortly after the press conference, leaders of the House Intelligence Committee said they had asked the White House whether there were any such tapes.
The House panel requested that if the recordings exist they be submitted by 23 June.
The Senate Judiciary Committee asked the White House last month about such audio.
Days after he fired Mr Comey on 9 May, Mr Trump tweeted: "James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"
Mr Trump tweeted earlier on Friday he felt "complete vindication" after the hearing.
Mr Comey also told senators that he had leaked details of his memos about his conversations with Mr Trump to a friend, who passed them on to a reporter.
After the testimony, Mr Trump's lawyer accused the former FBI chief of having divulged "privileged communications".

BBC NEWS

Iraq suicide bomb: IS kills at least 20

A suicide bomber has struck a market in Iraq in a town near the Shia holy city of Karbala, killing at least 20 people.
The so-called Islamic State (IS) group has said it carried out the attack in Musayyib.
IS has long mounted a violent campaign against Iraqi Shia, denouncing them as heretics.
The group has increased its attacks on civilians in big cities in Iraq as increasingly loses territory.
Its main stronghold of Mosul is expected to be recaptured soon. 

BBC NEWS

May to form 'government of certainty' with DUP backing



Theresa May has said she will put together a government with the support of the Democratic Unionists that can provide "certainty" for the future.
Speaking after visiting Buckingham Palace, she said only her party had the "legitimacy" to govern, despite falling eight seats short of a majority.
Later, she said she "obviously wanted a different result" and was "sorry" for colleagues who lost their seats.
But Labour said they were the "real winners".
The Lib Dems said Mrs May should be "ashamed" of carrying on.
The Tories needed 326 seats to win another majority but, with 649 out of the 650 seats declared, they fell short and must rely on the DUP to continue to rule.
In an ongoing cabinet reshuffle, the BBC has learned that five cabinet ministers are certain to stay: Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon; Brexit Secretary David Davis; Home Secretary Amber Rudd; Chancellor Philip Hammond and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
Mr Hammond said, in a tweet, that he was "pleased to be reappointed so we can now get on and negotiate a Brexit deal that supports British jobs, business and prosperity". Mr Johnson tweeted that he was "delighted", adding "lots of great work to do for greatest country on earth".
However, those rarely seen on the campaign trail, including Andrea Leadsom, Priti Patel and Liam Fox, could be out, says BBC political correspondent Eleanor Garnier.
Comebacks from Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Gove and prominent leave campaigner Dominic Raab were being floated, she adds.
In a short statement outside Downing Street, which followed a 25-minute audience with The Queen, Mrs May said she would join with her DUP "friends" to "get to work" on Brexit.
She said she intended to form a government which could "provide certainty and lead Britain forward at this critical time for our country".
Referring to the "strong relationship" she had with the DUP but giving little detail of how their arrangement might work, she said the government would "guide the country through the crucial Brexit talks" that begin in just 10 days' time.
"Our two parties have enjoyed a strong relationship over many years," she said.
"And this gives me the confidence to believe that we will be able to work together in the interests of the whole United Kingdom."

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Later, she told reporters that she "wanted to achieve a larger majority but that was not the result".
"I'm sorry for all those candidates... who weren't successful, and also particularly sorry for MPs and ministers who'd contributed so much to our country, and who lost their seats and didn't deserve to lose their seats.
"As I reflect on the results, I will reflect on what I need to do in the future to take the party forward."
DUP leader Arlene Foster confirmed that she had spoken to Mrs May and that they would speak further to "explore how it may be possible to bring stability to this nation at this time of great challenge".
While always striving for the "best deal" for Northern Ireland and its people, she said her party would always have the best interests of the UK at heart.
It is thought Mrs May will seek some kind of informal arrangement with the DUP that could see it "lend" its support to the Tories on a vote-by-vote basis, known as "confidence and supply".
Conservative MP Dominic Raab said the country needed "certainty and direction", and an agreement between the Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party was the "only viable option".
The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg said the PM had returned to No 10 a "diminished figure", having ended up with 12 fewer seats than when she called the election in April.


She had called the election with the stated reason that it would strengthen her hand in negotiations for the UK to leave the EU - the talks are due to start on 19 June.
But with the London seat of Kensington yet to declare, the Tories are on 318 seats, ahead of Labour on 261, the SNP 35 and the Lib Dems on 12. The DUP won 10 seats.
As it stands, the Tories and the DUP would have 328 MPs in the Commons, giving it a wafer-thin majority although as Sinn Fein will not be taking its seven seats, the new administration will have slightly more room for manoeuvre.


The Conservatives have argued in the event of a hung Parliament, Mrs May gets the opportunity to form a government first, as her predecessor David Cameron did in 2010 when there was also no clear winner but the party had comfortably more seats than their nearest rival.
Labour has said it is also ready to form a minority government of its own, after far exceeding expectations by picking up 29 seats in England, Wales and Scotland.
But even if it joined together in a so-called progressive alliance with the SNP, Lib Dems, Green Party and Plaid Cymru, it would only reach 313 seats - well short of the 326 figure needed.
Mrs May has faced calls to quit from within her own party, with Anna Soubry saying she should consider her position after a "disastrous" campaign.
However, other MPs have urged her to stay on, with Iain Duncan Smith saying a leadership contest would be a "catastrophe".


The BBC's assistant political editor Norman Smith said the DUP did not regard Mrs May as a "permanent fixture" and this raised the possibility of a change in leader in the summer, given that he believed serious progress over Brexit was unlikely to be made before the German parliamentary elections in September.
Reacting to the result, European Council president Donald Tusk said there was now "no time to lose" over Brexit, while the European Parliament's chief negotiator Guy Verhofstadt said it was an "own goal" and made negotiations more "complicated".
Mr Corbyn, speaking after being re-elected in Islington North, said it was time for Mrs May to "make way" for a government that would be "truly representative of the people of this country". He later told the BBC it was "pretty clear who has won this election".
"We are ready to serve the people who have put their trust in us," he said - but he also stressed he would not enter into any "pacts or deals" with other parties.
Unite union leader Len McCluskey said Labour's result was "an incredible advance" and it would not be long before they were in government.
The Green Party, which held its one seat at the election but saw its total vote halve, said a Conservative government propped up by the DUP would be a "coalition of chaos".
In other major developments:
Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, which gained three seats taking its total to seven, said it had been a "very good election for republicanism", and appealed for "calm reflection" on how to go forward.
Lord O'Donnell, formerly the UK's top civil servant, told the BBC that the prime minister had a duty to stay in post "for now" and had the right to seek the confidence of the House of Commons by asking it to approve a Queen's Speech on 19 June.
Meanwhile, UKIP leader Paul Nuttall has quit after his party failed to win any seats and saw its vote collapse across the country.
In a night of high drama, the SNP remained the largest party in Scotland but lost 21 seats to the Tories, Labour and the Lib Dems. Leading figures in the party such as Alex Salmond and Angus Robertson were defeated.
Former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg also lost his seat while Tim Farron clung on by less than 800 votes in his Cumbrian constituency.
But Vince Cable and Jo Swinson are among the Lib Dems returning to the Commons after winning their former seats back.
In more results from the night:
Speaking after a mixed night of results for his party, Mr Farron paid tribute to Mr Clegg and the other MPs who lost their seats.
Mrs May had "put the future of the country at risk with arrogance and vanity", he added, saying she should resign "if she has an ounce of self respect".

BBC NEWS

UK election result: How the world reacted

The result of the UK election, with the ruling Conservatives unexpectedly losing their overall majority, has sent shockwaves across Europe and beyond.
Politicians across the Continent have been questioning the impact on the Brexit talks.
Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the European Commission, said he wanted discussions to proceed without delay.
"As far as the Commission is concerned we can open negotiations tomorrow morning at half past nine," he said.
"First we have to agree on the divorce and exit modalities, and then we have to envisage the architecture of our future relations. I do hope that the result of the elections will have no major impact on the negotiations we are desperately waiting for."
Sweden's former Prime Minister Carl Bildt, who now chairs the European Council on Foreign Relations think-tank, called the outcome "messy".
"One mess risks following another. Price to be paid for lack of true leadership," he tweeted.

'Another own goal'

Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt, who is president of the Alliance of Liberals & Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament, had caustic words for Mrs May.
"Yet another own goal, after Cameron now May, will make already complex negotiations even more complicated," he tweeted.
Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator for Brexit, had a more conciliatory message. "#Brexit negotiations should start when UK is ready; timetable and EU positions are clear. Let's put our minds together on striking a deal," he said.
European Council President Donald Tusk alluded to the March 2019 deadline for Brexit talks.
"We don't know when Brexit talks start. We know when they must end. Do your best to avoid a 'no deal' as result of 'no negotiations'," he wrote.


The EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said it was uncertain when Britain would have a clear Brexit strategy.
"One year after their referendum, we still don't know the British position in the negotiations on Brexit and it seems difficult to predict when we will, because democracy often requires time," she observed.
A spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her government would not comment on the election result out of "politeness and respect" while the process of forming a new government was ongoing.
Meanwhile Irish Prime Minister-elect Leo Varadkar was positive about the outcome.
"The results of the UK election indicate to me that there is no strong mandate to proceed with a hard Brexit, which represents an opportunity for Ireland," he said.
He also described the result as an opportunity to re-engage in talks to restore Northern Ireland's devolved power-sharing administration, which collapsed in January.
Mrs May is expected to form a government with the backing of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionists.

World media notes May setback

European newspapers have been focusing on the uncertainty about Mrs May's future and the anger among Britain's voters.
There has been no official reaction yet from the US, but the Washington Post newspaper noted the unpredictable nature of recent British politics.
"The results mark the second time in as many years that the British body politic has defied predictions, scrambled the country's direction and bucked the will of a prime minister who had gambled by calling a vote when none had been required," it said.
"But unlike last year's EU referendum - which delivered a clear if close verdict to get out of the bloc - the will of the voters who cast ballots Thursday was not nearly as easy to decipher."

Looking east from London, the Chinese press offered largely factual reports, with little comment except to say the result would have a "huge" impact on Brexit discussions.
In Hong Kong, independent outlets said the Tories had made a "grave miscalculation".
Shi Zhiqin, a professor from Tsinghua University in Beijing, said China might no longer see the need to keep Britain as a strong ally in the EU.
"But I think Britain's main concern is to keep China as a trade partner after it lost the EU market," he told the South China Morning Post.
In Russia, state-owned news agency RIA Novosti is claiming the Conservatives will not forgive Theresa May for the result, and predicts a new prime minister.
On the morning of 9 June, state-run rolling news channel Rossiya 24 called it "Theresa May's devastating defeat."
A correspondent for Qatar-funded Al Jazeera TV, which ran a special segment on the polls, said the opposition Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn had led a "fierce campaign that the Conservative Party did not expect".
The results were covered prominently on some Lebanese newspaper websites, with the front page of left-wing Al Akhbar newspaper reading: "Britain: Corbyn brings down the hopes of the Conservatives."
In India, newspapers are taking an interest in Preet Gill, who has become the UK's first Sikh woman MP, and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, the first turban-wearing Sikh winner.
Indian headlines also concluded that the result was a setback for Theresa May, with the Hindustan Times calling it a "stunning blow" for the prime minister.

Congratulations to Corbyn

Labour boosted its number of seats by 29 overnight, exciting Corbyn supporters abroad.
US Senator Bernie Sanders, the former Democratic presidential candidate, told the Washington Post he was thrilled.
"I am delighted to see Labour do so well. All over the world people are rising up against austerity and massive levels of income and wealth inequality.
"People in the UK, the US and elsewhere want governments that represent all the people, not just the 1%. I congratulate Jeremy Corbyn for running a very positive and effective campaign."
Image copyright Le Monde
 
 

Bill Shorten, leader of the Australian Labor Party, made similar observations, telling reporters:
"One of the things which my counterpart, the Labour leader in the United Kingdom, did is he campaigned and his slogan was 'For the many, not the few.'
"I think Mr Turnbull [Australia's prime minister] would be well advised to look at the popularity of that message."

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