THE snap General Election is almost upon us – we’re just a week away from the polls opening and the gap between the two main parties was this week reportedly tightening.

Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May started out well and truly in the lead but a new YouGov poll has shown the country could be on course for a hung Parliament.

Stourbridge Labour candidate Pete Lowe, Dudley Council's former leader, said he was feeling "more confident" than in recent weeks and added: "The reaction on the doorstep has never been more positive; people are obviously engaging with my message about having a local advocate, sticking up for the interests of Stourbridge.

"I think Labour will increase on the 2015 vote."

He said the economy, social services, the health service and education (particularly the subject of university fees) have been proving the key issues on the doorstep and he added: "I remain quietly confident the Labour vote will be up.

"I will continue to knock on doors and meet as many people as I can between now and next week."

Conservative incumbent Margot James, meanwhile, remains "fairly confident" and she said: ”It’s only one poll that had predicted a hung Parliament. We have to take the polls in the round and in any case we know they were wrong last time.

“We’re not going to be blown off course by today’s news. We’re pressing on and we’re confident we can win with a good majority - that’s the main thing so we have got a strong and stable government this time in ten days to lead off with Brexit negotiations which are going to be starting next month.”

She believes Theresa May will ultimately walk away with the keys to Number 10 as "people have trust in her character and she's got the experience" and she added: "The main issue is people don't want Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister.”

Ms James, who has held the Stourbridge seat since 2010, said she was "shocked" that Labour had pledged to scrap tuition fees for university students if elected and said: "Universities need the money that fees provide. We're doing it in a way that enables them to take out a loan on the best terms they're ever going to have in their lives. If you don't earn a graduate salary you don't have to pay it back.

"The old system was so subsidised by taxes of people who didn't have the benefits of a university education; I'm shocked that Labour want to go back to that."

She too said she would be out knocking on doors and talking to "as many constituents as possible" between now and polling day next Thursday June 8.

Meanwhile - Lib Dem candidate Chris Bramall is taking on his sixth parliamentary fight for the Stourbridge seat which, as always he's hoping to win.

Despite having been on crutches for the last 11 months, he is hoping to get out and about in the final week to chat to voters - a number of whom he says he has been corresponding with by email over hot topics which include animal welfare and human rights.

The pro-Europe former Dudley councillor is also keen to urge people to support a more integrative stance in these troubled times. After hearing US President Donald Trump was poised to quit the Paris climate deal, he said: "We need to stand together internationally. Now is not the time to separate ourselves off."

He is, however, hoping to take votes off some of the other parties in this election and he said: "A lot of the protest votes that went to UKP, I'm hoping some of them will come to the Lib Dems."

UKIP's Glen Wilson who was a fireman in the RAF in the 70s and 80s, however, has other ideas and he believes Brexit will be factoring in people's minds when going to the polls and he said: "There's only one candidate who campaigned and was outspoken about Brexit and that was me.

"Every other candidate on the ballot paper was a Remain candidate. We had 67 per cent of the town voted Leave and I'd like to think a few of them will be voting for me."

Green Party candidate Andi Mohr, meanwhile, is "standing for a different kind of politics" and said: "I think we're all sick and tired of politicians scoring points off each other and throwing insults.

"I just want to work to find common ground with other parties and people with other views so we can all move forward constructively.

"We face huge problems: Brexit is a massive obstacle while also being a huge opportunity, but also climate change is massive but we're refusing to deal with it.

"Homelessness is an urgent crisis, in-work poverty is a ticking time-bomb and public services are buckling through underinvestment, hitting the most vulnerable the hardest.

"I'm standing up for a longer-term view that restores faith in our political system while actually tackling these major challenges head on."