A SENIOR Conservative last week warned that he could see another election taking place within 12 months.

Dominic Grieve, the former Attorney General who lost his cabinet post in July, on Thursday spoke to the York Union at the University of York, and told the audience that even under the new fixed-term Parliament laws he could see the country back at the polls within a year.

With no party likely to win a decisive victory next week, Mr Grieve said his party could turn back to the Liberal Democrats for another coalition, go into minority government, or could be forced to turn back to the electorate within a short time.

Grieve also spoke of the Conservative's struggles to take a lead in the polls, despite trumpeting their economic successes in government, and blamed it in part on a reliance on "presentational politics" which voters do not believe in.

At the same time, he said his party should not underestimate the challenge they face in persuading people to stick with their economic plan, especially when many had felt the pressure of public service job cuts and benefit changes.

"I think the Liberal Democrats suffered because they made promises when they never expected to be in government," he added.

Mr Grieve also said the country faced a conflict between the humanitarian desire to help migrants making the desperate journey from Africa across the Mediterranean, and the practicalities of how many immigrants the UK could accept without changing the country drastically.