HOME secretary Amber Rudd is set to lose her seat, according to pollsters YouGov.

The polling company believes her Hastings and Rye seat could be returning to Labour after seven years.

But political analysts and her Labour opponent Peter Chowney are taking the projection with a pinch of salt, pointing out YouGov has been proved very wrong in the past.

Elsewhere, pollsters believe Labour will win back Brighton Kemptown and enjoy a safe retention of Hove while the Conservatives will hold off the Lib Dems in Lewes.

Bookmakers, however, see things a little differently, making the Conservatives favourite to take Hove and hold on to Brighton Kemptown

But even the pollsters dare not call Eastbourne where Conservative Caroline Ansell and Lib Dem Stephen Lloyd are neck-and-neck in a rematch of 2015 and which YouGov has labelled “a toss-up”.

The bookies have the Conservatives marginally ahead of the Lib Dems, whose odds are shortening, while also making the Tories marginal favourites to win in Lewes.

YouGov’s prediction that Theresa May could fall 16 seats short of a majority has certainly reawakened an election campaign originally billed as her coronation.

Analysts are treating it with a hint of scepticism as all other major polling firms predict large Conservative majorities of between 88 and 142 seats.

YouGov predicted a much closer election in 2015 too with a final seat prediction of Conservatives with 284 and Labour 263 but in the end David Cameron returned to Number 10 with a working majority and 330 seats.

The polling firm predicts Labour will retake Hastings and Rye with 46 per cent to 42 per cent, aided by the Green decision to pull out of the race.

Mr Chowney said the projection should give encouragement to progressive supporters in the constituency to get out and vote to remove a leading figure from the current Conservative government.

He added: “YouGov put Labour ahead in Hastings and Rye in the 2015 election, so I’m not reading too much into it. There’s still a lot of work to do but over the past couple of weeks the positive responses we’ve been getting and the huge number of people offering to help has given us the impression the tide is turning towards us.

“The own goals by the Conservatives have helped but I think people have actually read the manifestos this time, both locally and nationally.”

Ladbrokes makes the Conservatives hot favourites to win in Hove but YouGov is calling it a safe Labour seat and predicts Peter Kyle will boost his majority.

Kristy Adams is 8/15 to win back Hove with Peter Kyle at 11/8 according to Ladbrokes but Paddy Power has seen his odds shorten to evens.

In Brighton Kemptown it is a similarly divergent view from bookmakers and pollsters with Conservative Simon Kirby at 4/9 to win against Labour’s Lloyd Russell-Moyle at 13/8 with Ladbrokes.

At the start of the campaign Paddy Power said it received some money on the Tories in the seat with their price dropping from 4/11 to 1/7 but three weeks later the flow of money has switched to Labour with odds dropping from 9/1 to 11/10.

Conservative candidate Simon Kirby said: "Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven is such a special and diverse place that people from outside the area often find elections here difficult to predict.

"It is one of the most marginal seats in the country and whilst there are many different polls and betting odds, the real poll will be on June 8 when local people have a choice.

"They can vote for me, Simon Kirby, the Conservative candidate to keep Theresa May as our Prime Minister or vote for anyone else and risk Jeremy Corbyn in Number 10. Certainly every vote will count."

Ladbrokes is making the Conservatives marginal favourites to win in Lewes and YouGov is calling it a lean Conservative seat.

Tory Maria Caulfield said: “It will certainly be close here in Lewes but as Theresa May has said, the only poll that matters is on June 8. We won’t be paying much attention to betting odds or other polls before then. Instead we will be speaking to as many residents as possible.”

YouGov is predicting all other Sussex seats will remain the same with the Conservatives successfully holding on to their other eleven seats while predicting Caroline Lucas will further strengthen her standing in Brighton Pavilion.