Tories And Labour Neck And Neck: Sky Analysis

A single seat is set to separate Labour and the Conservatives at the election, a Sky News projection has indicated.

The results suggest a hung parliament with the two parties virtually neck and neck.

With just 50 days to go until the election, Sky News has analysed the latest polls to project how many House of Commons seats each party is currently expected to gain - and the results could not be closer.

According to the analysis, Labour would gain 280 seats with the Conservatives on 279.

The Liberal Democrats would take 14, UKIP 2, the SNP 52, Plaid Cymru 3, the Greens 1 and others 19.

The results suggest the election is on a knife edge - and the SNP could hold the balance of power in a hung parliament.

Ed Miliband has ruled out a formal coalition with the SNP but left the door open for a looser deal such as confidence and supply on a vote by vote basis.

However, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has ruled out working with the Conservatives.

The calculation is based on data from Sky's election analyst Professor Michael Thrasher, Director of The Elections Centre at Plymouth University.

Any party needs 326 seats in the House of Commons to win the election outright and form a majority Government.

The projection is not a prediction or forecast of what will happen at the General Election on 7 May.

It uses the most recent polls from a series of polling companies including opinion in Scotland.

The polls seem to be narrowing in favour of the Conservatives.

A Sky News House of Commons projection on 27 January, to mark 100 days to go until the General Election, suggested a hung parliament with Labour the largest party and 12 seats ahead of the Conservatives, but 44 seats off an overall majority.