The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has agreed in principle to support a minority government led by British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives, the prime minister's office announced.
May's party won 318 seats, eight short of the 326 they needed for an outright majority.
"Theresa May is a dead woman walking. It's just how long she's going to remain on death row", said former Conservative finance minister George Osborne, who was sacked by Ms May when she became prime minister a year ago. A surprise resurgence by the Labour Party gave the main opposition party 261 seats, followed by the pro-independence Scottish National Party on 34. She is seeking a so-called confidence and supply deal, which would involve the DUP supporting the Conservatives on key votes but not joining a formal coalition.
Gavin Barwell, the Conservative lawmaker who lost his seat on Thursday and has experience working as a party enforcer in the parliament, was named the new chief of staff.
European Union leaders expressed concern that May's loss of her majority would raise the risk of negotiations failing, resulting in a legal limbo for people and business. British voters dealt her a devastating blow on Thursday, wiping out her parliamentary majority and throwing the country into political turmoil.
Survation, the opinion polling firm that came closest to predicting correctly the election's outcome, said a new poll it conducted for the Mail on Sunday newspaper showed support for Labour now 6 percentage points ahead of the Conservatives.
Demonstrators, who gathered at Parliament Square on Saturday, were shouting slogans against May and her party's alliance with the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
"This is not the time for sharks to be circling". May is now "fatally wounded" according to the Times of London.
"But I would like to make clear that the weird media reports about my own role in the policy's inclusion are wrong: it had been the subject of many months of work within Whitehall, and it was not my personal pet project.
I think we need to see the final make-up of parliament and then we'll reflect on that", DUP leader Arlene Foster told Radio Ulster late Friday. "Let's get on with the job", he tweeted.
"She might start off doing that but the Conservatives might well replace her mid-stream", he said.
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Newspapers said foreign minister Boris Johnson and other leading party members were weighing leadership challenges.
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the country after Britain's election at Downing Street in London, Britain June 9, 2017. Fallon said the DUP would agree to back the Conservatives on big economic and security issues.
Another former Labour Northern Ireland secretary, ex-Neath MP Peter Hain, said he also had great concerns over the impact any Conservative-DUP pact could have.
Downing St. said the Cabinet will discuss the agreement on Monday. "We want to do what is right for the whole of the United Kingdom".
"We will be anxious to ensure that whatever the result of these negotiations is doesn't in any way adversely impact on our unique circumstances here in Ireland, with particular reference to our peace process", he told ITV. However, the small regional party would not form part of a coalition government.
Promises likely to be made by Mr Williamson and the prime minister are likely to concentrate on the Northern Ireland implications of Brexit.
Jeremy Corbyn has been criticised by a former shadow chancellor who claimed Labour missed an "open goal" and should have won the election.
Corbyn believes that there is enough opposition in the rest of the House of Commons, and even amongst Conservative MPs, to defeat the government and trigger another election.
In the middle is Ireland, and none of this is good for us.
A visibly relaxed Corbyn, asked whether he would be in his own job over the long term, joked that "I've got youth on my side". Whereas those who were against Brexit a year ago split into those who "accept it is happening, so we'd better make a success of it" and those who wish to keep the issue open.
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