<div><p>The Conservatives are taking a commanding lead in the key seats they must gain to form a majority at the looming general election, a newspaper survey said Saturday.</p><p>A YouGov poll for The Daily Telegraph put the Conservatives on 39 percent, Labour on 29 percent and the Liberal Democrats on 19 percent.</p><p>If those figures were translated uniformly into seats in the Commons, the Conservatives would fall just short of a majority, which stands at 326 seats.</p><p>However, in 32 key northern marginal seats currently held by Labour, the Conservatives lead by 42 percent to 36 percent -- enough for all of them to fall into Tory hands.</p><p>The Conservatives need to hold all their seats and gain 117 more for a majority at the next general election, due by June.</p><p>"A minority government, or the cobbling together of a coalition, would be a wretched result," The Daily Telegraph said in its editorial.</p><p>"When marginal voters were reminded that their seat could decide the election, the Tory lead rose from six to eight points.</p><p>"Many people assume their votes do not count -- but, told that they can help change the government, they seize the opportunity with alacrity."</p><p>Meanwhile the new leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party said the party had 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.</p><p>Lord Malcolm Pearson told The Times: "We made that offer but we didn't get an answer... I'm so angry with them now."</p><p>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.</p><p>"As we have said, a made-up referendum after ratification would be pointless."</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=64365046&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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