Polls point to hung parliament

A clutch of opinion polls show a hung Parliament is still the most likely outcome following next week's election.

Liberal Democrat support has fallen significantly over the past week, according to an ICM survey, which shows Nick Clegg's party dropping four points since a similar survey last week to slump into third place behind Labour.

The poll put Tories on 36 per cent (up one point compared to a similar survey last week), Labour on 29 per cent (up three) and Lib Dems on 27 per cent (down four). If repeated on May 6 across the country, the figures would leave David Cameron at the head of the largest party in the Commons with 279 MPs - 47 short of an outright majority.

Labour would take around 261 seats and Liberal Democrats would hold the balance of power with 78 MPs.

A ComRes survey puts the Tories up two points on 38 per cent, with Labour on 28 per cent (down one) and Liberal Democrats 25 per cent (down one). This would give Mr Cameron's party 315 seats - 11 short of a majority - against Labour's 236 and 69 for the Lib Dems, with other parties holding the balance of power.

Angus Reid put the Conservatives 12 points clear of Labour but still short of an overall majority. The Tories are on 35 per cent, Liberal Democrats on 29 per cent and Labour on 23 per cent - the party's lowest rating in a mainstream newspaper poll for almost a year.

A YouGov poll showed party ratings unchanged since last week, despite the airing of the final TV debate of the election campaign and Gordon Brown's disastrous encounter with pensioner Gillian Duffy in Rochdale.

The survey put Tories on 35 per cent, Liberal Democrats on 28 per cent and Labour on 27 per cent. If repeated at a general election on a uniform swing, this would give the Conservatives 285 seats and Labour 243, with Liberal Democrats holding the balance of power on 90.