DAVID CAMERON admitted that he cannot win a majority in Thursday’s election, a senior Lib Dem claimed yesterday as panic spread among Tory MPs.

Lib Dem peer Lord Scriven said that the Prime Minister had told Nick Clegg in private that the Tories would not get an overall majority.

Tory aides said that the claim was “100 per cent untrue” and “complete nonsense” and showed that the Lib Dem campaign was in a state of panic.

The latest row between the coalition partners was sparked after Lord Scriven tweeted: “So Cameron has taken to lying on Tory majority. Nick Clegg told me that Cameron privately admitted to him that the Tories won’t win a majority.”

He spoke out after reading a report in the Daily Telegraph that the Tories were targeting Lib Dem-held marginals in a bid to gain the 23 additional seats they need for a majority.

The article quoted Mr Cameron warning that a vote for the Lib Dems risked letting in a Labour government.

“If David Cameron is going to lie when he knows in his heart of hearts his private polls are showing that the British people are likely to give no party an overall majority, then so be it,” Lord Scriven told the BBC.

A Tory spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has repeatedly made clear we only need to win 23 seats to get a majority.”

But, campaigning in London Tory target seat Twickenham yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister said the Tories were telling the public a “big fat fib.”

Lord Scriven, a former leader of Sheffield City Council, has been acting as the party’s campaign spokesman during the election.