Theresa May will visit the Queen to seek to form government despite hung parliament

It has been confirmed that Theresa May will go to Buckingham Palace to tell the Queen that she can form a government.

It comes after a shock hung parliament result in Thursday night's (8 June) general election saw the Conservatives lose seats, leaving them short of a majority.

Despite being in a minority, May will seek permission from the Queen at 12.30pm today, to form a government with the support of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

It is understood that there will be no formal coalition but an agreed understanding on a vote-by-vote basis.

The Tories are expected to end up with 319 seats ahead of Labour on 261, the SNP 35 and the Lib Dems on 12. The DUP won 10 seats.

Together the Tories and the DUP would have 329 MPs, which would be enough to govern and pass the Queen's Speech. The speech is billed to take place on 19 June.

The DUP are meeting today to discuss the unfolding situation and are expected to hold a press conference in the early afternoon.

Tories have argued that May should be the first to try to form a government in the case of a hung parliament as they are the largest party, as was the case in 2010.