Education Minister David Laws has indicated the "big gap" between Labour and Liberal Democrat policy for reducing the deficit would make a coalition unlikely in the event of another hung Parliament next year.
The Yeovil MP said that, while Labour had moved closer to the LibDems on issues such as the mansion tax, differences remain.
Asked by The House magazine if converging policy opened up space for a joining of forces, he replied: "No, I don't think so.
"The Labour party has converged towards us on things like the mansion tax. But on some of the other really big issues there's still a big gap, and the biggest one of all is on the critical issue of deficit reduction.
"We are saying very much we want to finish off the job, that we want to deliver the existing coalition plans to balance the current budget by 2017/18 and the Labour party are saying 'well, we will look to do this by the end of the next parliament'."
He also stressed that Labour's 10p tax proposals had been "widely slated" by economists.
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