Counting staff empty the first ballot boxes at the main Glasgow counting centre . A hung parliament or a narrow Tory majority could weaken Mrs May in Brexit negotiations, EU officials say

Leading figures across the EU warned that chaos in Westminster would make the Brexit negotiation timetable a near-impossible task with talks due to start in ten days.

Theresa May’s political future was an open question after the exit polls, Bild, Germany’s biggest newspaper, reported while she was branded the “big loser” by a German Social Democratic Party MP.

Carl Bildt, the former Swedish prime minister, blamed the “mess” in British politics on a lack of true leadership and diplomats in Brussels lamented that there could be no reliable negotiating partner across the table.

The view of EU capitals was that Mrs May needed a decent majority so she could face down hardline Conservative backbenchers who would refuse to compromise on the Brexit “divorce” money