Shock, failure and May-hem: British papers sum up exit poll stunner

The front pages of The Times and The Guardian reflect the shock exit poll. PHOTOS: THE GUARDIAN, THE TIMES

Updated

Published

Jun 09, 2017, 08:22 AM

LONDON - Politicians, analysts and the general British public are still reeling from the shock of the general election exit poll on Thursday (June 8), which predicted that Prime Minister Theresa May's ruling Conservatives would lose their majority.

If the poll proves accurate, a hung Parliament is on the cards for Britain.

Former finance minister George Osborne summed up the overall mood for the ruling Conservatives, calling it "catastrophic".

"It's difficult to see if these numbers were right how they would put together the coalition to remain in office. But equally it's quite difficult looking at those numbers to see how Labour could put together a coalition so it's on a real knife edge," Mr Osborne said.

Newspapers across the country were also united in conveying the shock, with almost all splashing the news on their front pages.

Here's a look at what the major papers said.