Theresa May has put Brexit “in jeopardy”, UKIP’s leader has said, as his party look unlikely to win any seats, according to the exit poll.
Party leader Paul Nuttall said he believed this election was wrong from the start, adding: “Hubris.”
The NOP/Ipsos MORI poll for BBC/ITV/Sky suggests the Conservatives will be the largest party, but short of a majority.
UKIP had no MPs at the end of the last parliament, after Douglas Carswell left the party in March.
Deputy Chairwoman Suzanne Evans described the poll as “shocking” and said if right, “Brexit at risk and Marxists at large”.
Neil Hamilton, UKIP’s leader in the Welsh Assembly, said his party’s vote had been “squeezed” as the election had become a “binary competition between Labour and the Tories”.
He said that after this “disastrous election” for the Conservatives, “we’ll be able to carve out a niche” for UKIP in UK politics.
After seven election results had been announced, it was confirmed the party had lost their deposit in five seats, meaning they failed to achieve 5% of the vote share.
UKIP economy spokesman Patrick O’Flynn said he believes there will be “hell to pay” with Eurosceptic voters if the exit poll turns out to be correct, adding he expects people to “gravitate back to UKIP in very large numbers”.
Paul Nuttall’s party stood in around half the number of seats contested in 2015. The UKIP leader stood in Boston and Skegness, which he hopes to take from the Conservatives.
Conservative sources say the party is to win Clacton, the seat won at the 2015 election by Mr Carswell for UKIP.
Former party leader Nigel Farage wrote on Twitter: “Whatever the true result, the Conservative Party needs a leader that believes in Brexit.”
The exit poll indicates that the Conservatives will lose 17 seats with a projection of 314 seats.
A total of 30,450 people were interviewed as they exited from 144 polling stations across the UK for the poll, which suggests Labour will get 266 seats – a rise of 34 seats.
It puts the Liberal Democrats at 14 – an increase of six, SNP 34, Plaid three and Greens one, and UKIP will lose their only seat. The other parties will account for 18 seats between them.
A total of 650 Westminster MPs will be elected, with about 45.8 million people entitled to vote.
