Labour and the Conservatives have both sought to play down expectations ahead of this week's local elections.

Speaking on Sunday Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith suggested that his party could win as few as 30 seats.

"We did so well last time round we will have to gain seats to stand still," he told BBC1's Breakfast with Frost.

"If we do gain seats, the net gain may be 30 or so which is what we put out. We are looking to keep control of councils because we won so many last time round."

But speaking to the same programme, Commons leader John Reid said the Conservatives would need to win hundreds of seats just to stand still.

However, with fears that Labour's grassroots could have been alienated by the government's stance on Iraq, Reid accepted that Thursday's polls would be a "hard challenge" for the party.