A beefed-up majority would have made her less vulnerable to the whims and demands of her own backbenchers if they didn't like the way the government's negotiations were shaping up.

A majority of polls projected Theresa May increasing the Conservatives' majority, but the exit poll results suggest Britain could be left with a hung parliament.

What can not easily be delayed, however, is the date of Britain's departure from the European Union, which is due to take place exactly two years after the triggering of the Article 50 Brexit process on March 29 2019, whether or not a withdrawal deal has been reached.

Markets had priced in a healthy Conservative majority, giving Theresa May free rein to take charge of Brexit negotiations unhindered.

"What the United Kingdom asks for might not be quite as hard, quite as tough as she was asking for before".

"As we prepare for government, we have already changed the debate and given people hope", he said.

He later added: "She called the election to strengthen her hand, there will be two questions Conservative MPs are considering right now".

German Chancellor Angela "Merkel will notice that, (French President Emmanuel) Macron will notice that".

"The hubris of the prime minister, she wanted to do what she wanted and we said no, we meant it, we put together a great manifesto, if anyone is strong and stable it's Jeremy Corbyn".

An indication that it was going to be a hard night for his party came in Sunderland, which a year ago provided an early sign that the European Union referendum was going to result in Brexit.

Instead of forming an alliance with the coalition-skeptical Liberal Democrats, Labour could also join forces with the Scottish National Party to topple the Conservative Party. Markets might perceive the near-term uncertainty to be worse than it was after the Brexit vote. The conservative party is likely to retain average voting intention of 42.9 points while the Labours may get 37.2 percent voters.

"Looks like it was the Brexit election after all".

"Article 50 has been triggered and we were on our way".

Craig Erlam, Senior Market Analyst at OANDA, said: "The initial exit poll suggest it's been a catastrophic campaign for Theresa May".

"We may well be looking down the barrel of a second referendum", he said.

One of the most delicate parts of the Brexit negotiations will be the place of Northern Ireland within the UK, and relations with the Republic of Ireland, which will be the kingdom's only land border with the EU.

On top of that, when she had been asked whether she was tempted to capitalise on her healthy poll ratings and go to the country, Mrs May had given an emphatic "no".

Following the General Election in 2010, when no party had a majority, Gordon Brown remained as prime minister while the talks were taking place. "A vote for one to go and the other to be revisited". Being forced into major concessions by the Tories, the Liberal Democrats lost much support among many of their core voters and never quite recovered.

"On balance, the financial markets and the private sector would have preferred a Conservative majority to a Labour majority. and they definitely prefer stability to instability", said Tony Travers, director of the Institute of Public Affairs at the London School of Economics.