General election 2017: The story of results day

Adults in the UK have voted in the general election. This important vote decides the UK's next government and who will be the next prime minister.

Polling stations were open on Thursday from 7am until 10pm - and millions of adults had their say.

The result has now been announced as a hung Parliament.

The Conservative party did win the most Member of Parliament (MP) votes, but they didn't win more than half, which is what they needed to do in order to automatically stay in power.

However, Theresa May will stay on as prime minister, for now, after agreeing with the Democratic Unionist Party to work together to form a government.

Read below to find out what happened on results day.

4:30pm - End of live coverage

This is the end of Newsround's live online coverage of the UK general election.

Thank you for your questions throughout the day.

For more news about the general election, head to our special section online.

3:00pm - Who are the Democratic Unionist Party?

Prime Minister Theresa May has said that she will form a new government by working with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

Because the DUP are a party that only stand for election in Northern Ireland, you may not have heard of them unless you live there.

So here are five things that you should know about this party.

The DUP celebrated their successes as results were announced

2:00pm - Watch what Theresa May said

Listen to what Theresa May said when she announced that she would carry on as prime minister and work with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to form a new government.

1:00pm - Theresa May says she will carry on as Prime Minister

Theresa May has said she will form a government with the support of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) that can provide "certainty" for the future.

Speaking after visiting Buckingham Palace, she said she would work with "friends and allies" in the DUP to take forward Brexit, saying: "Let's get to work."

Theresa May came back from Buckingham Palace to say she would form a new government

The Conservatives are eight seats short of the 326 needed for a majority, but the DUP bring 10 seats of their own, meaning the Conservative government has the support of 328 MPs, for now.

12:30pm - Theresa May visits Buckingham Palace

Theresa May has been to visit the Queen to tell her she intends to form a Conservative government with the support of the Democratic Unionist Party.

Here, Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip are leaving Downing Street...

...and here they are arriving at Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen

11:45am - What does Parliament look like now?

11:30am - What is an MP?

The Conservative party, which is currently in charge of the UK government, has not won enough votes - and enough MP seats in Parliament - to automatically stay in power. This means the result is a hung Parliament.

But what is an MP? How does someone become one in the first place?

Hacker went to find out for Newsround. Click here to find out more.

11am - Update from Downing Street

Ricky has been on Downing Street with lots of other journalists from all over the world.

We still do not know exactly what the next UK government will be like, as the result of the general election has been a hung Parliament. Click on the link to find out what this means.

But we do know that Prime Minister Theresa May wants to stay in power by working with another political party called the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Doing this would mean she will have enough MPs in Parliament to remain in charge of the country for now.

We will keep you updated throughout the day on this page, but if you have any questions about the general election or what is happening today, send them in to Newsround here.

10:30am - Prime Minister Theresa May will go to Buckingham Palace

Prime Minister Theresa May will visit Buckingham Palace at 12:30pm today to ask the Queen for permission to form a new government.

Her party, the Conservatives, have not won enough votes to form a government on their own.

But Theresa May is hoping to stay in power by working with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which is another political party. This is because the DUP won 10 MP seats in Parliament.

Arlene Foster (in this picture) is the leader of the DUP

If these are added to the 318 seats which the Conservative party have so far won, this means that the two parties together will have more than half of the MPs in Parliament, which is needed for Theresa May to make a new government.

Ricky took this picture on Downing Street this morning, which shows journalists from all over the world gathered outside the Prime Minister's home

10am - Ricky in London

Ricky has been live in London bringing you all the latest news about the general election results.

Watch the bulletin here.

9am - Do you have any questions?

If you have any questions about what has happened with the general election, we want to hear from you! Send them in to Newsround here.

We will be putting some of them to a BBC political expert later.

8:30am - The election results... in emojis!

After a very long night, one thing we know this morning is that the results of this election are definitely not straightforward.

The Conservatives won the most votes out of everyone, but they have fewer MPs in Parliament now than they did last time, despite calling the election themselves.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party has failed to take power, but the number of votes and seats they've won this time has gone up, so they are happy.

So how are all the politicians feeling today? Bring on the emojis...

7:50am - What is a hung Parliament?

You are probably going to hear the words hung Parliament being said a lot today.

That is because the results of the general election are in and the result is a hung Parliament.

Find out exactly what this means by watching the video below.

7:10am - What's it like inside Parliament?

It has been a long night, and the result of the general election means that there is no clear winner.

This is what is called a hung Parliament. It means that no political party has won enough votes to automatically be able to make the new government.

Now, many conversations will take place to see who will be in charge of the UK next and we will have to wait to see what happens.

But what is life actually like inside Parliament for MPs? Hacker has been finding out.

Don't forget to tune in to CBBC in half an hour to catch up on everything that has been going on overnight!

And if you have any questions about what has happened in the general election, send them in to Newsround here.

7am - Go behind the scenes with Ricky

Ricky is down in London to bring us the latest news about the general election result.

Here he is checking out the BBC politics headquarters in London...

6:40am - Do you have any questions?

You might have lots of questions about the general election and what the result means for you and other children in the UK.

We'll be putting some of them to a BBC political expert later, so we want to hear from you.

Send them in to Newsround here.

6am - Result: It is a hung Parliament

We now know that the result of the general election is what is called a hung Parliament.

But what does that mean?

Well, this means that no political party has won enough MPs in Parliament in order to automatically be in charge of the next UK government. This is called winning a majority, which nobody has managed to do.

Results are still being counted, but there aren't enough results left to be announced for anybody to win a majority.

The result of the general election is a hung Parliament

So what happens now?

Theresa May will remain the prime minister for now, but if she is to stay in charge of the UK government for the next five years, she will need to team up with people from other political parties to create the next government.

5:40am - Martin is still going

Martin has been working through the night to bring you all the very latest from the results of the general election.

Tune into CBBC at 7:40am to find out what's been going on during the night while you've been asleep!

Martin is hard at work to bring you everything you need to know about the results

5:30am - There is still no clear winner

Votes are still being counted and we do not yet know who will be in charge of the UK government next.

So far, the Conservative party - which is in power at the moment, with Theresa May in charge as the prime minister - has won the most MPs.

But it is not clear if the party will win enough MPs in total, once all of the votes are counted, in order to automatically stay in power.

Theresa May will remain the prime minister until it is clear who will make up the next UK government, which we do not know yet

Theresa May will remain the prime minister while we wait to see what happens.

Find out more about how people become MPs with Newsround's guide

4am - Prime Minister Theresa May has spoken

3:30am - Jeremy Corbyn has spoken

The leader of the Labour party Jeremy Corbyn has given a speech about the results of the general election, after he won his seat as an MP for Islington North in London.

He said that he thinks the prime minister should step down, because her party - the Conservative party - has not done as well in the general election as it was thought.

3am - Votes continue to be counted

Results are still coming in and, so far, there is no clear result.

Here is one of many teams of volunteers who will be working through the night to count up votes

12:50am - It's long night ahead

The first results have started to come in, but there are still many more results to announce so the night is only just beginning for many people.

Martin is going to stay up through the night to keep an eye on what's going on. But he's going to need some snacks to keep him going...

Martin has a midnight donut to keep him going

Thursday night, 11:15pm - First results announced

Newcastle Central is the first constituency in the UK to announce its result for the general election at 11:01pm.

Once polling stations closed at 10pm, teams of volunteers raced to be the first to count up their votes.

Thursday night, 10pm - Polling stations close

Here is Martin outside a polling station as they closed across the UK last night

Polling stations across the UK have closed their doors and voting has come to an end.

Now, it will be up to teams of volunteers to individually count all of the millions of votes in the 650 different areas around the UK.

These votes will decide who will become the MP for those areas. This will decide who will be in charge of the next UK government. It's going to be a long night...

Click here to find out more about exactly what happens at polling stations and how voting works.

Thursday night, 9pm - Not long left to vote

Adults in the UK have just one hour left to vote before polling stations close.

Millions of people have been visiting polling stations all day - and some have been bringing along their four-legged friends, who've been snapped waiting patiently outside!

Take a look at this...