Chris Johnston
Business reporter, BBC News

Sterling has now regained a little ground to be trading at about $1.28 given the electoral uncertainty.

Paul Hollingsworth, UK economist at Capital Economics, makes the point that if neither the Conservatives nor Labour can form a working government, we could be facing another general election.

Given that Brexit talks are due to start on 19 June, the timing could not be worse, he says.

Election 2017

Labour former home and foreign secretary Jack Straw says if the exit poll is right, it is to the "great personal credit" of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell.

He says the Labour campaign had "great vigor and consistency", while Theresa May's "strong and stable" was replaced with "a weak and wobbly leader".

The election has "been a disaster" for Theresa May, he says, but thinks a hung Parliament may lead to "more sensible negotiations" over Brexit.

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

Things are very, very dicey for Theresa May if the exit poll is correct.

One senior Conservative party member has told me Mrs May is seen as having made mistakes during the campaign and "she will not be allowed to fight the next general election".

If the Conservatives secure a majority of 30 or below, then she's very damaged by that.

If she ends up with no overall majority she is very, very damaged, and even if that climbs up to 25 or 30 she's very tarnished.

Remember, she didn't have to call this election.

Election 2017

Prof John Curtice says: "According to the exit poll there should be a 4 point increase in the Conservative vote here, while Labour’s vote is expected to be up by 13 points. In practice, the Conservative vote is up by 11 points and the Labour vote by just 4.

"The result is thus a much better result for the Conservatives than expected by the exit poll."

Election 2017

Neil Hamilton, UKIP leader in Wales, describes Theresa May's election campaign as "disastrous", claiming his party will "carve out a permanent niche" for itself in the future.

He says he does not expect UKIP to win any seats.

Nor does the exit poll.

• The Tories will be the largest party but may not have a majority, according to the general election exit poll
• The survey suggests the Tories could get 314 MPs - down 17
• Labour would get 266 - up 34
• The Lib Dems would get 14 (up six), UKIP none and the SNP 34 (down 22)
• The first two seats have declared. As expected Labour held Newcastle Central and Sunderland South, but with a smaller swing from the Tories than the exit poll suggested.

Election 2017

Following the declaration that Labour has held on to Houghton & Sunderland South, elections expert Peter Kelner comments that the Conservatives have done "substantially better" in that constituency than the exit poll predicted, and Labour has done substantially worse - despite, of course, winning both seats.

Image source, AFP/Getty

Definitely no coalition, say the Liberal Democrats.

The party's press office has tweeted: "We are getting a lot of calls so just to be clear: No Coalition. No deals."

Tim Parker
BBC Radio Leicester political reporter

The lights have gone out in Aylestone Leisure Centre where they are counting the Leicester votes - they carry on in the dark...

What stalwarts.

Election 2017

Prof John Custice says: "According to the exit poll there should be a 5 point decrease in the Conservative vote here, while Labour’s vote is expected to be up by 19 points. In practice, the Conservative vote is up by 6 points and the Labour vote by 10.

"The result is thus a smaller swing to Labour than expected by the exit poll."