Election 2017 polls latest: Will Theresa May win? How many seats does she need to win?

How many seats are needed to win a majority?

There are 650 seats across the UK to be taken in the election tomorrow and in order for Theresa May to win a majority, she needs to secure a minimum of 326 seats.

The Prime Minister has warned that Britain could face a ‘coalition of chaos’ under Jeremy Corbyn if she does not get enough seats and there is a hung parliament. 

The last time a British election resulted in a hung parliament was in 2010, when a coalition government was formed between the Conservative’s David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg.

But hung parliaments do not mean a coalition government has to form. Any party that secures a minority victory has the option of running a minority government – an incredibly unstable and tough job. 

Who will win the majority in the election?

Most pollsters agree that the Conservatives are the firm favourite to secure a majority of seats in Parliament on June 8.

But behind the doors of Whitehall, some civil servants are expressing concerns that the election result will not be as decisive as expected.

One Whitehall source told The Times: “A senior civil servant sat in a meeting and said, ‘We’ve just all been told to prepare our plan for a hung parliament’.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said that the Labour is fighting to win the election outright and he has ruled out any mention of “pacts and coalitions” before the election.

“We are not doing deals, we are not doing coalitions, we are not doing any of these things.” Mr Corbyn said last week at a rally.

Pressed by ITV on if he would consider doing deals after the election result has come in, he said: “You’d better ask me on June the 9th.” 

YouGov’s latest polls predict the Conservatives will hold on to 302 seats in the election – a 29 seat loss on their 2015 result of 331.

But Martin Baxter, of the Electoral Calculus, predicts a 30 seat gain for the Tories and an overall majority of 361 seats and 44.9 per cent of the vote.

Meanwhile Lord Ashcroft, a former Tory politician and now statistician, predicts Mrs May could win 357 seats – a strong majority.

The prediction model used by Lord Ashcroft forecasts this majority could also rise even higher if the election matches the turnout of the 2015 EU referendum.

Latest predictions from election result mapping website Principal Fish looked at uniform swing and recent polling averages to predict a 348 seat majority for the Tories.

Finally Chris Hanretty, of the University of East Anglia, predicts a 98 per cent probability of a Conservative majority with only a two per cent chance of a hung parliament.

According to Mr Hanretty’s predictions, the Tories will head for a 375 seat majority. In the worst case scenario, the party will still score 329 seats, and in the best case scenario it would hold onto 423 seats.