David Cameron refused yesterday to rule out a deal with Ukip after next year’s general election, saying he wouldn’t speculate on what would happen if the Conservatives fail to win a majority again. The Prime Minister dodged a question on whether he might turn to Nigel Farage, whose party hopes to win a number of Commons seats, to help prop up a minority Tory administration. But there are growing fears among senior civil servants that the general election could produce a dead heat between the main parties – with only a ‘rainbow’ coalition made up of several parties able to govern. Scroll down for video . Prime Minister David Cameron, pictured with Kelly Tolhurst, the Tory candidate in Rochester, said he did not want to specualte about what he would do if the Tories 'fall short' in 2015 . Ukip leader Nigel Farage is to target 100 seats in next year's general election . Pollsters say the Conservatives and Labour could end with around 284 seats each, and the Lib Dems 30 or even fewer. That would mean neither main party could form a coalition capable of commanding an absolute Commons majority of 326 with the Lib Dems alone. They would also have to try to reach a deal with either the SNP - on course to steal at least a dozen Labour seats in Scotland, which would give them a total approaching 20 - Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionists, or Ukip and the Greens, which could each pick up two or three seats. Such a Government would be inherently unstable and dependent on personal relationships between several different party leaders. Asked if he would do a deal with Mr Farage in order to stay in power, if Ukip does win its first seats at a general election, the Prime Minister told BBC Radio Kent: ‘The next election is absolutely wide open, and it could easily result, if people vote the right way, in a Conservative-only government. That’s what I’m campaigning for and nothing’s going to distract me between now and then. ‘Until that election is over, you won’t get me speculating on what would happen if I fall short. ‘People know with me that I will always try and do the right thing for Britain. At the last election, we didn’t have an overall majority, we fell short, and I thought the right thing to do was to give Britain strong and stable government to get the deficit down, turn the economy round, get the country back to work. Listen to the full interview on BBC Radio Kent here. Is this the face of Ukip's second MP? Mark Reckless is standing in the by-election in Rochester and Strood . ‘I believe at the next election I’ve got a very strong case to say you’ve seen what we’ve done in coalition, having to make some compromises, not being able to go ahead with all the things we wanted to do, now give us the chance to really deliver for the country, including on issues like immigration.’ Aides insisted Mr Cameron had not been signalling any shift in his thinking, and would have given the same answer about coalition or a looser arrangement with any other political party, including the Lib Dems. ‘He gave his standard response, which is that he is going all out for a Conservative majority and he is not going to speculate about what happens in any other scenario,’ said one. ‘You could equally say he didn’t rule out an alliance with any other party.’ Mr Farage has suggested he might support the Tories in the event of a hung Parliament under a so-called ‘confidence and supply arrangement’, which means a minor party agreeing to support Budgets and other key measures but stopping short of a full coalition. Asked the day after Ukip’s byelection victory in Clacton if he was prepared to join a full coalition, Mr Farage said: ‘I don’t honestly think that’s what has to be done, just because the Liberal Democrats did that. There are other ways. You can support a minority government by saying on motions of confidence or on key bills you would give them support. There are lots of ways of doing this.’ A small number of Tory MPs have called for local pacts with Ukip in order to prevent the Eurosceptic vote from being split next year, something ruled out by both Tory and UKIP HQs. Senior figures in Ukip have privately admitted they would rather see Ed Miliband in power after the election because they believe an ‘out’ vote in an EU referendum is more likely under him than Mr Cameron, who has promised to renegotiate looser ties with Brussels.
Fears among senior civil servants that general election could produce a dead heat between main parties .
Pollsters say Conservatives and Labour could end with about 284 seats each .
SNP are on course to steal at least a dozen Labour seats in Scotland .
A small number of Tory MPs have called for local pacts with Ukip .
David Cameron refused yesterday to rule out a deal with Ukip after next year’s general election, saying he wouldn’t speculate on what would happen if the Conservatives fail to win a majority again. The Prime Minister dodged a question on whether he might turn to Nigel Farage, whose party hopes to win a number of Commons seats, to help prop up a minority Tory administration. But there are growing fears among senior civil servants that the general election could produce a dead heat between the main parties – with only a ‘rainbow’ coalition made up of several parties able to govern. Scroll down for video . Prime Minister David Cameron, pictured with Kelly Tolhurst, the Tory candidate in Rochester, said he did not want to specualte about what he would do if the Tories 'fall short' in 2015 . Ukip leader Nigel Farage is to target 100 seats in next year's general election . Pollsters say the Conservatives and Labour could end with around 284 seats each, and the Lib Dems 30 or even fewer. That would mean neither main party could form a coalition capable of commanding an absolute Commons majority of 326 with the Lib Dems alone. They would also have to try to reach a deal with either the SNP - on course to steal at least a dozen Labour seats in Scotland, which would give them a total approaching 20 - Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionists, or Ukip and the Greens, which could each pick up two or three seats. Such a Government would be inherently unstable and dependent on personal relationships between several different party leaders. Asked if he would do a deal with Mr Farage in order to stay in power, if Ukip does win its first seats at a general election, the Prime Minister told BBC Radio Kent: ‘The next election is absolutely wide open, and it could easily result, if people vote the right way, in a Conservative-only government. That’s what I’m campaigning for and nothing’s going to distract me between now and then. ‘Until that election is over, you won’t get me speculating on what would happen if I fall short. ‘People know with me that I will always try and do the right thing for Britain. At the last election, we didn’t have an overall majority, we fell short, and I thought the right thing to do was to give Britain strong and stable government to get the deficit down, turn the economy round, get the country back to work. Listen to the full interview on BBC Radio Kent here. Is this the face of Ukip's second MP? Mark Reckless is standing in the by-election in Rochester and Strood . ‘I believe at the next election I’ve got a very strong case to say you’ve seen what we’ve done in coalition, having to make some compromises, not being able to go ahead with all the things we wanted to do, now give us the chance to really deliver for the country, including on issues like immigration.’ Aides insisted Mr Cameron had not been signalling any shift in his thinking, and would have given the same answer about coalition or a looser arrangement with any other political party, including the Lib Dems. ‘He gave his standard response, which is that he is going all out for a Conservative majority and he is not going to speculate about what happens in any other scenario,’ said one. ‘You could equally say he didn’t rule out an alliance with any other party.’ Mr Farage has suggested he might support the Tories in the event of a hung Parliament under a so-called ‘confidence and supply arrangement’, which means a minor party agreeing to support Budgets and other key measures but stopping short of a full coalition. Asked the day after Ukip’s byelection victory in Clacton if he was prepared to join a full coalition, Mr Farage said: ‘I don’t honestly think that’s what has to be done, just because the Liberal Democrats did that. There are other ways. You can support a minority government by saying on motions of confidence or on key bills you would give them support. There are lots of ways of doing this.’ A small number of Tory MPs have called for local pacts with Ukip in order to prevent the Eurosceptic vote from being split next year, something ruled out by both Tory and UKIP HQs. Senior figures in Ukip have privately admitted they would rather see Ed Miliband in power after the election because they believe an ‘out’ vote in an EU referendum is more likely under him than Mr Cameron, who has promised to renegotiate looser ties with Brussels.
there are growing fears among senior civil servants that the general election could produce a dead heat between the main parties – with only Conservatives and Labour could end with around a deal with either the SNP - on course to steal at least a dozen Labour seats in Scotland, which small number of Tory MPs have called for local pacts with Ukip in order to prevent the