Election 2017: Whitehall is now preparing for a hung parliament, say reports

Planning for such an eventuality stepped up as polls predict range of results, from hung parliament to Tory landslide

Senior civil servants in Whitehall have reportedly been told to prepare plans for a hung parliament as the latest polls show Thursday's election may not deliver a decisive result.

Planning for such an eventuality has been stepped up, with one Whitehall source telling 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.’"

They added: "This goes further than before.”

It comes as the polls predict a range of results, from a hung parliament to a landslide for the Conservatives.

One Survation showed the Tory lead over Labour slashed to one point, suggesting the election race is neck to neck.

It put the Conservatives on 41.5 per cent compared with Labour on 40.4 per cent.

However, other polls have given wider leads for the Tories, ranging as high as 12 points.

YouGov's election model has suggested a hung parliament, with Theresa May's party on track to win 304 seats, 22 short of a 326-seat majority.

But another model, produced by Lord Ashcroft Polls, last week predicted the Conservatives were on course for a majority.

There remains wide variation between the findings of different pollsters, with the latest snapshots significantly more favourable to Jeremy Corbyn's party than other recent surveys.

A Press Association "poll of polls" taking in 11 results from the past week put the Conservatives on 44 per cent, seven points clear of Labour on 37 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats on 8 per cent, Ukip on 4 per cent and the Greens on 2 per cent.