Angela Merkel has said she sees no
obstacles in the way of beginning Brexit talks as scheduled after
Theresa May failed to win a majority in Thursday's UK election.
The German chancellor said she believed Britain would stick to the timetable, adding the European Union was "ready".
Mrs Merkel added she hoped Britain would remain a good partner following the talks, due to begin on 19 June.
It is her first comment since Mrs May's Conservative party lost 13 seats.
The
loss left the Conservatives eight MPs short of a majority in
parliament, plunging negotiations into uncertainty. Mrs May called the
snap election in order to secure a clear mandate for her vision of
Brexit.
A spokesman for Mrs Merkel had previously refused to be
drawn on the issue out of "politeness and respect" while the process of
forming a new UK government was under way.
Mrs May says she will form a government with the Democratic Unionist Party from Northern Ireland, which won 10 seats.
Mrs Merkel, who is meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto
to discuss trade, told reporters gathered in Mexico City on Friday: "I
assume that Britain, from what I heard from the prime minister today,
wants to stick to its negotiating plan.
"We want to negotiate
quickly, we want to stick to the time plan, and so at this point I don't
think there is anything to suggest these negotiations cannot start as
was agreed."
Mrs Merkel, the EU's most powerful politician, went on to say she hoped the UK would remain a good partner.
"Britain is part of Europe, even if it will no longer be part of the European Union."
However,
she added the EU countries would be "asserting the interests of the 27
member states that will make up the European Union in future" during
negotiations.
Meanwhile, Michael Fuchs, senior economic adviser to the German
chancellor, told the BBC the result meant it was time for Mrs May "to
face realities" and soften her approach.
"Her wish and will was
not really too much accepted by the British people," he said. "I have
the feeling, because otherwise they would have given her a better vote.
"Maybe,
this is a chance that we can come up to a more reasonable Brexit
negotiations because in the last time (recently) I really had the
feeling that everything was just being very tough and it doesn't make
sense to be tough.
"We want to have a fair deal with Britain and we want to have a fair final Brexit negotiations."
Other EU leaders have expressed concerns the failure to win a majority may make negotiations even more difficult.
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.
Image copyrightAFP
"Yet another own goal, after Cameron now May, will make already complex negotiations even more complicated," he tweeted. Jean-Claude
Juncker, head of the European Commission, said he wanted discussions to
proceed without delay, while Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator
for Brexit, said "negotiations should start when UK is ready". 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.
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.
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 copyrightMet 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 copyrightMet 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.
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 copyrightGetty 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. Hung Parliament: What happens now? A simple guide to the UK election result How the world reacted 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 copyrightReuters
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.
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.
"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."
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".
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.
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".
