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Theresa May: "We are conscious that we need to work hard to get those votes back for the election"
The Conservatives can win back voters who have deserted them in favour of the UK Independence Party, Home Secretary Theresa May has insisted.
UKIP made gains in local elections as the Tories lost control of 10 councils.
Senior Tory David Davis is calling for a planned referendum on the European Union to be brought forward to counteract the UKIP threat.
Mrs May dismissed the idea, but said the public needed "greater certainty" that a referendum would happen.
UKIP, which campaigns for the UK to leave the EU, averaged 25% of the vote in the wards where it was standing in Thursday's elections and won more than 140 seats.
Its leader, Nigel Farage, said it had taken its "first substantial step towards a party that can credibly win seats at Westminster".
'More straight talking'Mr Davis, who lost the contest to become Tory leader to David Cameron in 2005, said UKIP's policies on law and order, immigration, taxation, foreign affairs, and Europe "mimic a simplified 1980s Tory manifesto".
"Start Quote
End QuoteIt is the day UKIP emerged as a real political force in the land"
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said the Conservatives must break the impression that they were "privileged and out of touch", "deal properly with fears over immigration" and urgently take steps to cut taxes.
There must be "more straight talking and fewer focus groups; more conventional Tory policies, not because they are Tory, but because they work; less pandering to metropolitan interest groups; and please, please, no more Old Etonian advisers".
The prime minister has pledged to hold an in-out referendum on the EU during the early part of the next parliament - by the end of 2017 at the latest - if the Conservatives win the next general election.
But he has first vowed to renegotiate the UK's position within the EU.
Analysis
After the Conservatives suffered a drubbing in the local elections and support leached away to UKIP, backbenchers, including the former leadership contender David Davis, are urging David Cameron to break the impression of being privileged and out of touch and to bring forward the planned European Union referendum.
Theresa May has rejected calls to hold the referendum before the next election, but said the Tories must give voters "greater certainty" that they will be given a say on Britain's EU membership.
It's a curious phrase - but points to the fact that despite David Cameron's speech on Europe in January where he promised a referendum, following negotiations, by 2017, too many people still don't believe it will happen.
All three major parties have offered a referendum on the issue before, but there hasn't been one since 1975.
The desire for a referendum is something UKIP have tapped into and the Tory leadership know they now need to show they will keep their promise on it.
Mr Davis, however, said the vote should be held ahead of next year's European elections, "otherwise Nigel Farage will characterise those elections as 'the referendum the Tories wouldn't let you have'".
Mrs May told the BBC the party would learn lessons from the local elections and would work hard to bring back those voters who left the Conservatives and voted for UKIP.
Asked about the prospect of bringing forward the referendum, she said she believed the original timing was right, but added: "Now we [can] look at whether we can give some greater certainty in terms of the referendum but the whole question is [about] actually having a referendum on the basis of a renegotiated settlement...
"I think what we need to do is be able to show people that we will hold that referendum and we will hold that referendum after the next general election."
Earlier, Sarah Newton, the Conservative Party deputy chairman, said the government should consider bringing forward the legislation in this parliament that would guarantee a referendum would be held, "so people can be in no doubt".
Asked about such a move, Mrs May said: "I'm not saying that's definitely what we're going to be doing."
Greater scrutinyBBC political correspondent Iain Watson said the Tory leadership believed any damage could be limited at the next general election.
They intended to subject UKIP's policies to greater scrutiny, said our correspondent.
Asked about the surge in voters opting for UKIP, Labour's Angela Eagle told the BBC: "I think they are probably saying 'None of the above.'"
The shadow leader of the House of Commons continued: "There's not a lot we can do about what's going on on the right. We'll leave them to it.
"But we must not let them drag the country to the right - and not act in the best interests of the country - because they're having a spat in the conservative family."
Contests took place in 27 English county councils and seven unitary authorities, as well as in Anglesey. About 2,300 council seats were up for grabs in England, in a major mid-term test for the coalition government.
Labour gained 211 county councillors and won the South Shields by-election, but
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