Warning on risks of hung parliament

The former Conservative Prime Minister launched a devastating attack on the other two parties last night, claiming that Labour was always "peddling deception" and the Lib Dems wanted to join the euro.

In a speech to the Oxford Union, Sir John – who makes rare public interventions – warned that if Labour came third, a Lib-Lab coalition could lead to Children's Secretary Ed Balls, Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman or "Toto the dog" moving into Downing Street.

His comments came amid accusations that the Tories are spreading alarm about the dangers of a hung parliament in an attempt to scare people into voting for them in light of recent opinion polls which suggest no party will get enough votes to form a majority.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg yesterday refused to rule out working with Gordon Brown in the event of a hung parliament after the General Election, repeating his assertion that he was not the "kingmaker" and insisting no politician could "short-circuit" how the government should be formed.

Mr Clegg, who is standing again in Sheffield Hallam, has previously made clear that electoral reform would be an "absolute pre-condition" for his party and indicated that he would not be willing to prop up Mr Brown in power if Labour came third in the popular vote but won the most seats.

Despite refusing to speculate on the prospect of a hung parliament and calling on the news media to devote more time to policies, Labour's Business Secretary Lord Mandelson warned voters that if they backed the Liberal Democrats in crucial Labour/Tory marginal seats, they would wake up the day after the election with David Cameron as Prime Minister.

"Worse still, you could find yourselves waking up with George Osborne, William Hague, or heaven forbid, Eric Pickles," he said.

"That is a life I think you would live to regret."

With just eight days until polling day, three Tory candidates in the region will today receive an election boost when UK Independence Party leader Lord Pearson visits Shipley to throw the party's support behind Conservative candidate Philip Davies because of his anti-European views.

It is also backing Tory candidates Janice Small in Batley and Spen and Alex Story in Wakefield.

The fierce debate over a hung parliament comes after a surge in Liberal Democrat support in the wake of impressive performances by Mr Clegg in the first two televised prime ministerial debates.

The latest batch of opinion polls have all pointed towards no overall majority and a poll of Yorkshire voters yesterday suggested support for the Liberal Democrats had soared by seven points in the past week.

In his speech last night Sir John, Prime Minister between 1990 and 1997, said a hung parliament would be very bad for Britain.

"We'd get a legislative programme no-one voted for decided purely on the basis of changing the electoral system to benefit the Lib Dems."

TORIES SCOOP UP MILLIONS

The Tories continued to outstrip Labour in the fundraising stakes during the second week of the General Election campaign.

David Cameron's party raked in more than 2.2m in large donations between April 13 and 19, compared with 1.49m for Labour.

The Liberal Democrats reported gifts totalling just 120,000, despite the dramatic poll boost after Nick Clegg's TV performance.