A YouGov poll for The Daily Telegraph put the Conservatives on 39 percent, Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s governing Labour Party on 29 percent and the Liberal Democrats on 19 percent.

If those figures were translated uniformly into seats in parliament’s lower House of Commons, the centre-right Conservatives would fall just short of a majority, which stands at 326 seats.

However, in 32 key northern English marginal seats held by Labour, the Conservatives lead the centre-left party by 42 percent to 36 percent — enough for all of them to fall into Conservative hands.

The Conservatives need to hold all their seats and gain 117 more for a majority at the next general election, due by June.

British general elections are done on a first-past-the-post system. While commonplace in many other European countries, hung parliaments and coalition governments are rare in Britain.

The Conservatives have been ploughing resources into the key marginal seats in a bid to help secure a majority.

“A minority government, or the cobbling together of a coalition, would be a wretched result,” The Daily Telegraph said in its editorial.

“When marginal voters were reminded that their seat could decide the election, the Tory lead rose from six to eight points.

“Many people assume their votes do not count — but, told that they can help change the government, they seize the opportunity with alacrity.”

Meanwhile the new leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, which advocates Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, said UKIP offered not to stand against the Conservatives at the general election if they pledged to hold a referendum on the EU’s new Lisbon Treaty.

The Conservatives have gone back on the pledge, saying it would be pointless now the reforming treaty has entered into force.

Lord Malcolm Pearson told The Times newspaper: “We made that offer but we didn’t get an answer... I’m so angry with them now.”

In his acceptance speech, Pearson said his ambition was to win enough support to force a hung parliament.

The Conservatives’ Europe spokesman Mark Francois said: “We don’t make policy on the basis of secret deals with other parties; we decide our policies on the basis of what is right for the country.

“As we have said, a made-up referendum after ratification would be pointless.”