THERE are now just seven days to go until the General Election – and it still looks no clearer who will win the keys to 10 Downing Street.

There is deadlock in the polls between the Conservatives and Labour, with the most recent polls of polls putting the Tories at 33.6 per cent and Labour at 33.2 per cent.

And with the vote just a week away people in Hampshire may wake up on May 8 and still be no closer to knowing who will be running the country.

Daily Echo: Outgoing Itchen MP John Denham with Labour leader Ed Milliband on a walkabout in Southampton.

Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband are the two men who could be the UK’s next Prime Minister.

Hung parliament In 2010 there was the first hung parliament since 1974, and eventually Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats opted to choose the Tories over Gordon Brown’s Labour, setting in place the Coalition that lasted until this election.

But former Cabinet Secretary Lord Gus O’Donnell, who oversaw those talks, said they will be a “piece of cake” in comparison to what may face the parties after May 7 this year.

Speculation has rumbled on about potential coalitions or “confidence and supply” deals between various parties in order to get legislation, such as the Budget, through the Commons.

The Lib Dems, one of three parties who may act as kingmaker, have been the first to formally mention potential deal-breakers.

Nick Clegg this week said boosting education funding to £55.3 billion and setting out an “emergency stability budget” within 50 days of the election would be the two “red lines” for Labour or the Tories if they wanted his party’s support.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage, whose party did not even have a seat after the last election, could also be in a position to form part of a coalition and he has already hinted that he is prepared to negotiate with the Conservatives over the prospect of a referendum on the UK’s future in the European Union.

And there has also been continuous speculation over whether Labour would do a deal with the Scottish National Party, which many have predicted could almost wipe out their MPs in Scotland.