Theresa May's gamble on a snap election has cost her overall control of the House of Commons as the final results arrive after voting yesterday (June 8).

The UK now has a hung parliament after the Conservatives failed to win an overall majority.

After 630 seats had declared just before 6am, the Conservatives had won 309, Labour 258, SNP 34 and the Lib Dems 12.

The exit poll, announced at 10pm last night suggested a victory for the Conservatives - but with only 314 seats, which would mean they would have no overall majority - more seats than all the other parties put together.



Without these seats, the government won't be able to pass laws if all the other MPs gang up on it.

These laws include the Queen's Speech, when the government declares its plans for the next year. It's due on June 19, and there'll be a crisis if it's voted down.

One way or another, the parties would have to group together so they have enough votes to pass laws.


So what could happen after the dust has settled on the 2017 election? Here a few scenarios:

Conservative-Lib Dem coalition

Mathematically the Conservatives and Lib Dems could possibly combine in a repeat of 2010 to forming a working majority.

Politically, however, this seems unlikely with Lib Dem leader Tim Farron ruling out an coalition deal with Labour and the Conservatives on the campaign trail.

Conservative-SNP coalition

Again, mathematically the numbers would be there for a very unlikely coalition between these two parties.

The parties, of course, are far from being politically aligned. Theresa May has dismissed SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon's demands for a second post-Brexit Scottish independent referendum.

Labour, SNP, Lib Dem coalition

A grand coalition of left-leaning parties could form together for a majority in the House of Commons.

This very much depends on the final numbers each party received, with current figures suggesting they would not be enough to reach the magic 323 seats.

Minority government

The Conservatives could decide to go it alone and press forward with a minority government.

This is a risky option as they would need their political opponents to back a Queen's Speech.

The Conservatives could seek looser arrangements with opposition parties through a confidence and supply arrangement.

This is where a smaller party would back the government in any vote of confidence and support its budget measures.

Vote by vote agreements could be sought when passing laws, but this would prove to be a complicated and unstable scenario for any governing party.

Another election?

Is it possible that the UK will now have another election like in 1974? And what happens to Brexit negotiations which were due to start in less than a fortnight?