Jeremy Corbyn: We are ready to serve the country
The Labour leader says "it is pretty clear who won this election" as he reiterates his call for the Prime Minister to resign.
Friday 9 June 2017 20:04, UK
Jeremy Corbyn says he is "ready to serve the country" but refused to be drawn on whether he would try to form a minority government.
Following a , Mr Corbyn reiterated his call for the Prime Minister to resign as he claimed it was "pretty clear who won this election".
Mr Corbyn said his party had made no deals or pacts, but added: "We are ready to do everything we can to put our programme into operation."
He said: "Parliament must meet and Parliament will have to take a decision on what happens, when a government puts forward the Queen's Speech, we will put forward our point of view, we are of course ready to serve."
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Asked about Brexit talks due to begin on 19 June, Mr Corbyn said they "will have to go ahead" and called for a "jobs-first" agreement with the EU.
The Tories remain the biggest party with 318 seats and Labour currently have 261 - with 326 required for a majority and one seat left to be called.
Kensington, a seat which the Conservatives have held since 1974, is in play for Mr Corbyn's party as it has gone to a third recount.
Though Labour fell well short of a majority, the party defied pollsters by increasing its vote share by 9.5% and making gains across the country.
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In one of the biggest surprises of the night, former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg to Labour's 25-year-old candidate Jared O'Mara.
Elsewhere, rising Conservative star Ben Gummer - one of the architects of Theresa May's manifesto - lost to Labour in Ipswich by 831 votes.
In Canterbury, Labour edged out the Tories by 187 votes to win the constituency for the first time since it was formed in 1918.
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In Scotland, Labour bounced back from its near collapse in 2015 - gaining East Lothian, Midlothian, Rutherglen & Hamilton West, Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill, Glasgow North East and Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath.
Earlier, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Labour was "ready to form a government" and described any possible as a "coalition of chaos".
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He told Sky News: "We've always said, whatever the circumstances, we're ready to serve the country and we're ready to form a government.
"In our position that'd be a minority government and the way that would operate is we'd put forward our own Queen's Speech and our own Budget as well, and then would expect other parties to vote for it."
Former home secretary Lord Blunkett told Sky News he had "never been a Corbynista" but gave "all credit" to the Labour leader for the party's surge in the polls.
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He said: "The anti-austerity programme that he led has been extremely successful, backed up by those who didn't always agree with him so there's been unity across the country in the last seven weeks with the Labour party.
"We are very pleased not only that we have got colleagues back but we have new colleagues."