UKIP MP Mark Reckless has claimed it is "incredibly unlikely" that David Cameron will secure an outright win in the General Election.

The Tory defector, who successfully retook the ­Rochester and Strood seat this week, told the Eurosceptic Bruges Group there was "no serious prospect" of the Prime Minister securing a majority.

He said: "It is something of a conceit that I understand the Conservative leadership has to maintain, but I am not sure that necessarily all ­Conservative backbench MPs need to, that somehow it is a realistic ­prospect that the Conservative Party under David Cameron is going to get an overall majority at the next election.

"I haven't thought that was a serious prospect since the Conservative Party went into coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

"And that is largely because that decision led to unity on the left and a significant increase in the Labour vote due to ­departing LibDems."