Leicester, United Kingdom: With the UK election on Thursday, the latest batch of opinion polls show the two main parties tied for spot at 33 per cent -- making the outcome of the May 7 vote too close to call.
Both David Cameron’s Conservatives and Labour under Ed Miliband are seeking to form the next government.
Yesterday’s opinion poll by Populus showed Labour had slipped three percentage points to fall level with the Conservatives. Cameron’s junior government parter Liberal Democrats were at 9 per cent, with the anti-European Union United Kingdom Independce Party (Ukip) at 15 per cent.
Both Cameron and Miliband appeared on the BBC’s Question Time programme on Thursday night in a bid to convice voters that they had the personality and policies to form the next government.
Significantly, Miliband categorically ruled out any formal or informal partnership with the Scottish National Party.
Since losing a referendum on Scottish independence last September, the SNP has enjoyed widespread support north of the border. Analysis and polls show it may send a bloc of 55 MPs south to Westminster -- a key number in a fractured 650-seat House of Commons where any party or coalition must have 326 seats to effectively govern. Labour is predicted to win 270 seats, with Cameron’s Tories closer to the 300-seat mark.
Cameron, in an effort to woo Ukip support, said his bottom line for any coalition partner would be holding a referendum in 2017 on Britain’s continued membership of the EU.
