The Prime Minister is refusing to quit despite her disastrous election night as the UK voted for a hung parliament.
Mrs May is believed to have struck a deal, but not a formal coalition agreement, with the Democratic Unionist Party which will narrowly give her the numbers she needs to pass legislation in the House of Commons.
Mrs May’s decision to call a snap election backfired in spectacular fashion as she lost the Conservatives’ majority as Labour made significant gains.
Mrs May is now scrambling to try and form a government and the DUP has signalled a willingness to do a deal even though the party's leader Arlene Foster has expressed doubts that the Prime Minister can "survive".
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, has urged Mrs May to resign as he said she should "go and make way for a government that is truly representative of this country".
He also claimed it is "pretty clear who won this election" and that "the party that has lost in this election is the Conservative Party".
Meanwhile, even senior Tory figures have suggested she should consider her position.
But Tory sources have told The Telegraph that Mrs May will stay on as Prime Minister because she does not want to allow Brussels to delay Brexit talks.
One source said: "The digging in seems to have something to do with their not wanting to allow Brussels to postpone the Brexit talks on the claimed pretence that 'there isn't a UK Government'."
Mrs May insisted the UK needed a period of stability as she delivered a speech following her re-election as the MP for Maidenhead.
She said: “At this time, more than anything else, this country needs a period of stability.
"If, as the indications have shown and if this is correct, the Conservative Party has won the most seats and probably the most votes, then it will be incumbent on us to ensure that we have that period of stability and that is exactly what we will do."
But former chancellor George Osborne, who was sacked from the Cabinet by Mrs May in one of her first acts as PM and now editor of the Evening Standard, told ITV that he doubts whether the premier can "survive in the long term as Conservative party leader".
As things stood on Friday morning, the Conservatives had won 318 seats, a loss of 12, while Labour had won 261, a gain of 29.
And with 649 of the 650 seats now declared, no single party will be able to secure the 326 seats needed for an overall majority, with a hung parliament now guaranteed.
That means that Mrs May's path to power will likely require a deal to be done with the DUP, which increased its representation at Westminster from eight to 10.
The party has signalled it is ready to discuss working with the Tories on issues such as Brexit and keeping the UK together.
With the party in a position to hold the balance of power at Westminster, senior MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the DUP would be "serious players" in the hung parliament, telling the BBC: "This is perfect territory for the DUP because obviously if the Conservatives are just short of an overall majority it puts us in a very strong negotiating position and certainly that is one we would take up with relish."
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George Osborne: Theresa May's authority has been shredded
The former chancellor said Mrs May's authority was "shredded" and that the public "managed to deliver the none-of-the-above verdict" in the election.
Mr Osborne, now editor of the London Evening Standard, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "In the end, in politics, the buck stops with the leadership, as I well know, and she's got a lot of explaining to do."
Pressed on whether Mrs May should resign, he said: "Ultimately that's a decision for her," but added: "Personally I don't see how she can survive for the long term, now whether she thinks she should be at the helm for the coming period, as Britain begins its Brexit negotiations, that's got to be a judgment for her and the Conservative parliamentary party which I'm not a member of.
"But I don't think anyone seriously thinks Theresa May is going to be leading the Conservatives into the next general election."
Mr Osborne said the party had made a "profound mistake" in leaving "the centre ground" in a way that "put off urban, metropolitan, professional voters".
Tory MP: Conservative candidates were scuppered by social care plans
Nigel Evans, the returned MP for Ribble Valley, blamed the social care policy for the loss of the Conservatives' majority, saying "we hijacked our own campaign" and calling for change in Mrs May's leadership team.
He insisted he was supporting Mrs May but told the BBC: "A load of our candidates that should have been winning up and down the country were absolutely slain on the cross of our own manifesto."
He said the Tory backbench 1922 Committee would discuss her leadership style.
"Theresa May, I'm absolutely certain, will want to explain how there is going to be a change in the way we are going to do things.
"Had some of the Cabinet ministers seen that policy beforehand then surely that never would have featured in our manifesto at all.
"Never have I seen a very successful campaign up until that point been hijacked by ourselves. We hijacked our own campaign and from then on it was an absolute disaster."
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Large police presence as Jeremy Corbyn leaves Labour HQ
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Theresa May likely to stay on as PM 'to stop Brexit delay'
The Telegraph's chief political correspondent Christopher Hope reports:
Theresa May is likely to stay on as Prime Minister because she does not want to allow Brussels to delay Brexit talks, Tory sources have told me.
One source told The Telegraph: "The digging in seems to have something to do with their not wanting to allow Brussels to postpone the Brexit talks on the claimed pretence that 'there isn't a UK Government'."
Earlier the same source had said that there was a "50/50" chance that she would resign this morning.
That came hours after a senior European Union official said that Brexit talks might be delayed because Britons had voted for a hung Parliament,
EU Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said that talks about Britain leaving the EU might not now start as planned in 11 days' time.
The Prime Minister had said throughout the election campaign that she wanted a mandate to be able to start talks about Brexit on June 19.
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Jeremy Corbyn: Brexit talks must go ahead
He tells Sky News: "They are going to have to go ahead because Article 50 has been invoked."
He says putting negotiations off is "not completely in Britain's hands".
He says: "We are ready to undertake negotiations on behalf of this country."
He also restates his call for Theresa May to quit.
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Jeremy Corbyn: We are ready to serve this country
Mr Corbyn is asked if he intends to try and form a government.
He says: "We are ready to serve this country. That is what we fought the election for."
He continues: "We are offering to put forward the programme on which we fought the election."
On the possibility of another election, he says: "Parliament must meet and parliament will then have to take a decision on what happens when a government puts forward a Queen's Speech."
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Predicted Tory surge in Wales fails to materialise
The Labour Party in Wales is celebrating after a "fantastic" night saw them take three Welsh seats from the Conservatives as Theresa May's party failed to achieve its hoped for breakthrough.
Jeremy Corbyn's party won Gower, Vale of Clwyd and Cardiff North and secured their highest share of the vote for 20 years.
Professor Roger Scully, of Cardiff University's Wales Governance Centre, said: "It is a fantastic result for the Welsh Labour Party."
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Theresa May is facing a mounting backlash over her "catastrophic" election campaign after her snap election gamble failed to pay off and Britain was left with a hung parliament this morning, AzVision.az reports citing the Telegraph.
The Conservatives have emerged as the largest party but without an overall majority after losing 26 seats to the Labour Party and five to the Liberal Democrats.
Britain has a hung parliament after Labour's victory in Southampton Test made it impossible for any party to reach the 326 MPs required to achieve an absolute majority in the House of Commons.
Turnout for the election stands at 68.6 per cent, with 27 seats left to declare.
The Tories have lost seven frontbenchers, with ministers Jane Ellison, Simon Kirby, Gavin Barwell, James Wharton, Nicola Blackwood and Rob Wilson going down to defeat, along with Cabinet Office minister Ben Gummer, the author of the widely criticised Tory manifesto.
Accepting victory in her constituency of Maidenhead, Theresa May said that if Conservatives had won the most seats and most votes, "it will be incumbent on us to ensure that we have that period of stability, and that is what we will do".
Senior Conservatives said this morning that she had made "fundamental strategic errors" and said that her closest aides should be "banished" from Downing Street.
They complained that the campaign had been centred around a "cult of personality" and "central control", adding: "It has completely blown up in our face".
One senior Tory told The Telegraph: "This is bad, it's worse than bad. Her advisers should walk out of the door now never to return, regardless of the final result.
They should be banished forever. "Can she hang on? She [Theresa] has zero credibility if this exit poll is correct.
"The very best we can get tonight is to end up where we were. The cult of personality and central control has completely blown up in our face."
George Osborne, the former Chancellor who was sacked by Mrs May, said that if the exit poll is accurate she would not survive.
He said:"I worked very well with Theresa May and I think she has intelligence and integrity. "Clearly if she’s got a worse result than two years ago and is almost unable to form a government then she I doubt will survive in the long term as Conservative party leader."
A number of senior Tories have lost their seats this morning including Cabinet Office minister Ben Gummer on a 4.65 per cent swing in Ipswich.
Mr Gummer was the author of the Conservative manifesto, which was blamed by many in the party for undermining Tory hopes with its proposals to take elderly people's assets to pay for social care.
Tory minister James Wharton and Jane Ellison also lost their seats.
Nick Clegg, the former Liberal Democrat leader, was beaten by Labour to the Commons.
Ruth Davidson has said a second independence referendum is "dead" after Nicola Sturgeon said she would "reflect" on her demand in the wake of disastrous night for the SNP that saw her deputy and Alex Salmond lose his seat.
The First Minister said she would not make any “rash decisions” but pledged to “properly think about” whether to press ahead with her campaign for another separation vote.
She insisted the SNP had won the election in Scotland as it had got the most seats but admitted she was “disappointed” by the party’s losses amid a fierce public backlash against her referendum demand.
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