Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip arrive at Downing Street in London on Friday after an audience with Queen Elizabeth II. (Photo: AP)

London: A defiant Prime Minister Theresa May vowed Friday to form a new government to lead Britain out of the EU despite losing her majority in a snap general election and facing calls to resign.

“What the country needs more than ever is certainty,” Ms May said after the shock outcome of Thursday’s vote.

Britain’s snap general election resulted in a hung Parliament in a major blow to Ms May who wanted to boost the Conservatives’ majority in Parliament to strengthen her hand in the looming Brexit negotiations.

Her gamble backfired spectacularly. Although winning the most seats, her centre-right party lost its majority in Parliament.

The Tories needed 326 seats to win another majority but, with 649 out of the 650 seats declared, they fell short and must rely on Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to continue to rule.

Sterling plunged against the dollar and the euro on Friday as the election result created even more uncertainty over the whole Brexit process.

But Ms May vowed to “fulfil the promise of Brexit”, in a statement outside her Downing Street office after seeking permission from the head of state Queen Elizabeth II to form a new government.

“It is clear that only the Conservative and Unionist Party has the legitimacy and ability to provide that,” she said.

“This will allow us to come together as a country and channel our energies towards a successful Brexit deal.”

Ms May made no reference to her party’s damaging losses, leading the Evening Standard, edited by former Tory finance minister George Osborne, to splash the front-page headline “Queen of Denial”.

EU President Donald Tusk urged Britain not to delay the talks, due to start on June 19, warning that time was running out to reach a divorce deal to end four decades of membership. “We don’t know when Brexit talks start. We know when they must end...,” Mr Tusk tweeted.

Leftist Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose Labour party surged from 20 points behind in the opinion polls, told Ms May to quit, saying she had “lost votes, lost support and lost confidence”.