Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Theresa May reaches deal with DUP to form government The Democratic Unionist leader and most recent first minister of Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster, says she wants to “bring stability to our nation” by backing Theresa May and the Conservatives to continue in power. Foster said in Belfast on Friday afternoon that she was entering discussions with May over the details of any arrangement that would prop up a minority government. Foster said the election in Northern Ireland, which saw 10 DUP MPs, including two new ones, elected to the Commons, was a “great result” for the union. She confirmed that May had been in contact with her on Friday morning about gaining DUP support for a Tory administration. “I make no apology for wanting the best for Northern Ireland and all of the union,” Foster said at the Stormont hotel in Belfast just across the road from the main entrance to the Stormont parliament, which remains shut down while talks begin next week to restore devolution.- Guardian Philip Hammond will stay as chancellor, Boris Johnson will remain as foreign secretary and Amber Rudd – narrowly re-elected as an MP after a recount – will continue as home secretary. David Davis will also stay on as Brexit secretary and Sir Michael Fallon will keep his role as defence secretary. There could be changes elsewhere in the cabinet while nine middle-ranking and junior ministers, including Ben Gummer and Jane Ellison, lost their seats at the general election and will need to be replaced. – BBC May to form ‘government of certainty’ with DUP backing – BBC Theresa May set to finalise Cabinet – ITV News May: I wanted different result, but now I’ll lead – SkyNews May to try to form government after UK election debacle, uncertainty over Brexit talks – Reuters May must quit and Brexit talks should be put on hold, says Farron – Daily Mail How will the general election result affect Brexit? – Telegraph Seven challenges facing PM in next 10 days – Sky News Hard Brexit in disarray as opponents say she has no mandate – Daily Mirror Wounded May vows to stay as UK PM; says Brexit will go on – Daily Mail May’s Brexit mandate ‘has been rejected’ – Sky News UK political chaos could accelerate Brexodus – Politico Who are the Democratic Unionists? – The Times (£) Who are the Democratic Unionists and what do they want? – Politico May says will govern with ‘friends’ for successful Brexit deal – Reuters Will the DUP demand a soft Brexit from Theresa May? – Daily Mail May announces minority government after UK election debacle on eve of Brexit talks – Daily Mail The strangle tale of the DUP, Brexit, a mysterious £425,000 donation and a Saudi prince – Independent Northern Ireland’s unionist kingmakers may help shape May’s Brexit – Reuters What the Democratic Unionist Party stands for and will bring to parliament – Independent The letter written by DUP demanding May keeps free movement – Express How does the Conservative minority government with the DUP work? – City A.M. > Today on BrexitCentral – What the DUP Manifesto says about Brexit > Watch on BrexitCentral’s Youtube Channel: May announces she’ll form a government EU’s Juncker tells UK ‘we are ready’ to start Brexit talks… European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told Britain on Friday the EU was ready to commence Brexit talks and he hoped the U.K. would be able to form a government as soon as possible. “We are ready to start negotiations,” Juncker told Politico on the sidelines at a conference in Prague. “I hope that the British will be able to form as soon as possible a stable government. I don’t think that things now have become easier but we are ready.” – Politico European Commission head ‘ready’ to talk Brexit – BBC Brexit talks cannot be delayed, Jean-Claude Juncker tells Theresa May – Times (£) …as Donald Tusk warns there is ‘no time to lose’… European Council president Donald Tusk has congratulated Theresa May – after earlier warning Britain about failing to start official Brexit talks on time….”This Government will guide the country through the crucial Brexit talks that begin in just 10 days and deliver on the will of the British people by taking the United Kingdom out of the European Union,” she said outside Downing Street. – SkyNews Poll result could delay start of Brexit talks, as Tusk warns of `no deal´ risk – PA EU presses Britain to get its act together for Brexit talks – Associated Press …while Guy Verhofstadt calls the result an ‘own goal’… The European Parliament’s chief Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, has called the general election results an “own goal” for Prime Minister Theresa May. In a Twitter post he wrote: “Yet another own goal, after Cameron now May, will make already complex negotiations even more complicated.” Mr Verhofstadt was referring to Ms May’s decision to hold another election in a failed attempt to solidify her mandate. – Independent UK election will complicate Brexit talks, warn EU leaders – FT (£) …and Merkel says EU is ‘ready to start Brexit negotiations’ 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. – BBC Merkel assumes UK to stick with its Brexit talks plan after election – Daily Mail German Foreign Minister hopes Britain will act fast to carry out Brexit – Reuters EU attacks Theresa May’s ‘messy’ situation – Telegraph EU chuckles at May’s misfortune, braces for trouble – Politico UK election result: How the world reacted – BBC Weakened Government could undermine Brexit process, Budget Commissioner warns – PA ‘Brexit for breakfast’: How the social world reacted – BBC David Davis appears to suggest election disaster could cost ‘hard Brexit’ Brexit Secretary David Davis today admitted the Tories could have lost their mandate for a hard Brexit deal in a disastrous election blunder. In remarks that will infuriate Brexit supporters, Mr Davis said the loss of the Tory majority can be seen as a rebuke to plans to quit the single market. Theresa May pinned her hopes on a full exit that ended free movement, scrapped EU laws and allowed free trade deals with the rest of the world. But the vision alarmed Remain campaigners who today claimed it should be dead. Nigel Farage vowed overnight to return to frontline politics to defend Brexit if Mrs May’s defeat betrays the mission to quit Europe. – Daily Mail Paul Nuttall resigns as UKIP leader… Paul Nuttall has quit as Ukip leader after the party’s vote evaporated at the general election and he came a poor third in his own race for Parliament. Mr Nuttall insisted Ukip still had a future in post Brexit politics but fell on his sword after the party lost its one and only Commons seat…Mr Nuttall said: ‘A new era must begin with a new leader.’ …he insisted Ukip was ‘more relevant than ever’ and would play the role in the coming months of the ‘guard dogs of Brexit’. – Daily Mail > Watch on BrexitCentral’s Youtube Channel: UKIP’s Paul Nuttall Resigns …as Farage has to decide whether to return to lead party (again) Nigel Farage will decide within the next seven days whether he is going to stand for the fourth time to be leader of the UK Independence Party following a collapse in his party’s support at the polls. Mr Farage said he was going “to have a think about it” after his successor Paul Nuttall resigned as Ukip leader after his party’s woeful showing at the General Election. The Eurosceptic party’s future was left in doubt after Ukip failed to gain a single seat and the party’s vote share collapsed to less than two per cent from 12.6 per cent in 2015. – Telegraph Useless Theresa May has put Brexit in peril – Nigel Farage for the Telegraph (£) Ruth Davidson planning Tory breakaway to challenges Theresa May’s Brexit… Ruth Davidson is to defy Theresa May’s plans for a hard Brexit and tear her Scottish party away from English control after the UK Tories’ disastrous General Election result. Amid a growing clamour among senior Tories in London for Ms Davidson to be given a top position in the UK party, her aides are working on a deal that would see the Scottish party break away to form a separate organisation. It would maintain a close relationship with the English party – they have been joined together as part of the United Kingdom Conservative and Unionist Party since 1965 – and its 13 MPs would take the Tory whip at the Commons. – Telegraph Conservatives need to deliver an ‘open’ Brexit – Scotland leader – Reuters I’m sorry to bring more bad news, but Davidson won’t be heading to Westminster – Andy Maciver for ConservativeHome …as Nicola Sturgeon appeals to MPs to back Single Market membership The Scottish First Minister said Theresa May has now “lost all authority and credibility” after she failed to form a majority Government. Going forward, Ms Sturgeon said it was no longer acceptable to proceed into Brexit negotiations without a coherent plan. She said: “It simply can’t go on. Instead, there must now be an attempt to find consensus and bring people together. “Last night has shown that the reckless Tory pursuit of a hard brexit must be abandoned. “So I’m appealing to MPs from all parties to join together to keep the UK and Scotland in the European single market. “By doing so, we can protect job, preserve our relationship with Europe and bring some order to these negotiations.” CBI tells May to get stuck into Brexit talks Prime Minister Theresa May needs to put any disappointment from losing a parliamentary majority behind her and quickly refocus on getting the best deal out of Brexit negotiations, the leader of the CBI has urged.A Conservative majority in the House of Commons was cut with the party now dependent on support from Northern Ireland’s DUP. But CBI director-general Carolyn Fairbairn said now was not the time to wallow, with Brexit negotiations soon set to kick off. “With only 10 days before Brexit talks begin, the UK needs to be fast out of the blocks,” she said… Fairbairn added: “Agreeing transition arrangements and guaranteeing EU citizens’ rights should be early priorities to get the talks off to a good start and show to the world that trade and people come first.” – City A.M. Telegraph: Theresa May’s authority has been badly damaged, but focus must now turn to Brexit It was always a gamble to call a snap election and Theresa May’s decision to do so was particularly surprising in view of her innate caution. Indeed, she had consistently ruled one out on the grounds that it would cause instability on the eve of Brexit talks. But, fatefully, Mrs May was tempted to abandon her instinctive wariness by the electoral opportunities afforded by the apparent weakness of the Labour Party and the unpopularity of Jeremy Corbyn. Rarely has a prime minister made such a calamitous misjudgment. We need to go back to Edward Heath’s “Who governs?” election in February 1974 to find a recent historic parallel. Unlike Heath, however, Mrs May has ended up leading the largest party, albeit one without an overall majority. But with the support of the 10 Democratic Unionists she can form a minority government and has the constitutional duty to do so. – Telegraph editorial Nigel Farage: Useless Theresa May has put Brexit in peril. Ukip won’t be irrelevant for much longer We won the Brexit referendum through a genuine cross-party campaign. The message was clear: Brexit is not about Left or Right, but right or wrong and this message brought together people who had previously fought against each other in election contests. But Theresa May used this General Election to try to turn the Tory party into the standard bearers of Brexit, with the aim of wiping out Ukip, despite being a Remain supporter when the crunch came last year. What she misread is that many Ukip voters had come across from Labour. They wanted to hear more than just Brexit, they wanted a message of change. Something that the “strong and stable” line simply didn’t deliver upon in any way. Nigel Farage MEP for the Telegraph (£) Douglas Carswell: The election result won’t scupper Brexit The election result won’t scupper Brexit, no matter what a few Remain refuseniks think. All the gloating in Brussels doesn’t change the fundamental facts. Theresa May might have made a total mess of her election campaign but she’s still the leader of the largest party in Parliament. Provided her budgets contain money for new schools and hospitals in Ulster, the DUP will be onside. Add the Ulster Unionists to the Tory tally and there’s just enough to get by. Nor is it just a case of mercenary sentiment and maths: the DUP was one of the only parties unequivocally committed to us leaving the EU. The idea that this result means staying in the single market is absurd. The Ulster Unionists don’t want that, and by weird coincidence most of the handful of Tory MPs who still felt that way lost their seats on Thursday. The election leaves us with a Commons majority for Leave. Douglas Carswell for the Sun Adam Lusher: How the election plunged Brexit into uncertainty She spent the election promising strong and stable leadership. She has left the country uncertain about who will be running Britain, 11 days before the start of Brexit negotiations. Like camp followers of old, gathering on the hills in anticipation of watching their army crush the enemy in battle, they had come to Maidenhead, the home seat of their Conservative leader Theresa May. When she had called her snap election back in April, the talk had been of a 140-something majority, a victory over “leftie”’ Jeremy Corbyn to rival that of Margaret Thatcher over leftie Michael Foot in 1983. Since then, expectations had been lowered somewhat, but they were still anticipating a thumping majority of around 60. Adam Lusher for the Independent Allison Pearson: Theresa May’s credibility is in ashes today and potentially the very future of this country Oh, God, what a mess. Call it Mayhem. From the moment David Dimbleby announced the results of the exit poll, at 10 last night, it was head-in-your-hands-time. “Brace! Brace!” texted a friend like an air stewardess preparing her passengers for a crash. Fasten your seatbelts, we’re going down. The pound was falling with us. Plunging 2% in a matter of minutes at the mere suggestion that Jeremy Corbyn could be Prime Minister. It felt like watching a horror film and not being able to turn up the lights, or even look away. A horror film called Theresa’s Gamble. At least, that will have been the shocked reaction of millions of Conservative voters. We knew, though, didn’t we? Be honest, at some instinctive level we knew. – Allison Pearson for the Telegraph (£) Paul Goodman: Why May now has no alternative but to bring back Gove, Morgan and Grieve ConservativeHome set out the possible shape of the Prime Minister’s reshuffle earlier this week. Despite the worst campaign foul-up in modern times, our anticipation of the new Cabinet has been accurate so far – with the three occupants of the great offices of state, plus the Brexit Secretary, reappointed as we believed they were all likely to be. The member of that quad most at risk was Philip Hammond, but Theresa May is not now in a position to reshuffle him. – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome Brexit comment in brief Recriminations amongst Conservative MPs begin – Henry Hill for ConservativeHome The Government will be able to built trade bridges after Brexit – but first it needs to re-engage with businesses.- Steve Varley for the Telegraph (£) Is this an era where political parties compete to bribe us with our own cash? – Roger Bootle for the Telegraph Now we all need to focus on getting out of the EU – Express Editorial Brexit news in brief Youth vote and Brexit tipped the scales – Times (£) City of London confronts uncertainty, again – Politico City hopes rise for soft Brexit – Evening Standard Why did London Remainers vote Labour? – Daily Mail Boris Johnson among Cabinet members to keep their roles – Evening Standard What the election means for markets, the economy and Brexit – City A.M. Moody’s says will assess implications of UK election; Brexit and deficit key – Reuters CBI head Carolyn Fairbairn tells Prime Minister Theresa May to get stuck into Brexit talks – City A.M. Business demands bigger role in public debate on Brexit – Times (£) Juncker makes big call for EU defence push – Politico China to keep up focus on developing ties with Britain after election – Daily Mail BBC reporter gloats UK election result could wreck Brexit – Express