Lord Adonis told Sky News Theresa May’s hope to secure a strong mandate for the European Union divorce had not succeeded and as the UK is heading for a hung parliament, it could open for a softer Brexit.
He said: “It was a referendum on the Prime Minister and it hasn’t gone well for her, we now have to take stock of what’s likely to happen and it looks like Parliament is truly hung.
“And I think the difficulty Theresa May, or whoever were to succeed her as Conservative leader, is that calling a second election having lost seats in the way that the Conservatives have in this election isn’t going to be a very attractive prospect.
“That is an unprecedented situation, normally when we have had hung parliaments in the past, it’s been the rising party that’s been the largest party in the hung parliament.”
Lord Adonis said the Tories would have to seek cross-party support to deliver on their election promises and depending on DUP’s results, it could even mean conceding on Brexit demands.
He continued: “In this case, I would have though for the Conservatives, the situation is quite difficult because the momentum clearly isn’t with them at the moment.
“I would have though that on issues such as Brexit, health and education, they are going to need to seek to attract quite a lot of cross-party support.
“There is going to have to be a wide measure of agreement between the Conservatives and Labour.
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“There is simply no way, short of a majority, dependent on DUP votes, and splits inside the Conservative Party on Brexit, that she could hope to put an agreement before the House of Commons without an agreement with the Labour Party.
“So for those of us who doesn’t want a hard Brexit, who think the nation’s interests lie in having a strong constructive relationship with Europe, this is good news.
“What I hope it will do, is ensure the moderates across the House of Commons on the issue of Brexit, that they are taken account of before we start these negotiations with Europe.”
Lord Adonis added: “I think it is possible we won’t be [leaving the single market].
“The two big issues of Brexit are; are we staying in the single market and are we staying in the customs union… there is probably a majority in the House of Commons for staying in.”
Chuka Umunna: May’s failed to win a mandate for hard Brexit
Meanwhile, Labour’s Chuka Umunna said the election result meant his party could now thwart the Conservatives’ Brexit plans.
He told the BBC: “I cannot fault this campaign, the effect of it has been to deprive the Prime Minister of the personal mandate she was seeking to pursue an extreme hard Brexit, she can’t do that anymore.
“We will be able to thwart her in that endeavour. Of course, we don’t actually know who is going to form the government.
“This has been a remarkable night and actually the Labour Party has come together, it’s unified, it’s fought a strong national campaign, incredible local campaigns, and you’ve seen the results so far.”