Theresa May has said she will form an administration to govern Britain for the next five years, despite disastrous results in a snap election which left her short of the MPs she needs to command an overall majority in the House of Commons.

In a statement in Downing Street, the Prime Minister made clear that she would rely on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party in order to get her programme through Parliament.

She said despite losing a dozen MPs in the June 8 poll, she intended to press ahead with her plans to take the UK out of the European Union and forge a new trade deal with its former partners.

Mrs May faced calls from within her own party to consider her own position after the election, which she brought forward by three years in the hope it would deliver her a comfortable Commons majority, ended with Labour making significant advances.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn urged her to resign and allow him to form a minority administration, declaring: "We are ready to serve this country."

But, after intensive talks with the DUP as the final election results came in, the PM instead drove the short distance to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen for permission to form a new government.

She is expected to announce ministerial appointments later on Friday.