UKIP could take as many as five seats from Labour at the next election, a new study reveals in a devastating blow for Ed Miliband.

Some senior Labour figures had counted on UKIP eating into Tory support, making it easier for Mr Miliband to take power in May next year.

But frontbenchers including Gloria de Piero and Alison Seabeck are among those at risk of being ousted by Nigel Farage's party, according to Matthew Goodwin of the University of Nottingham.

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UKIP leader Nigel Farage could eat into Labour support in key areas, a new study has warned Ed Miliband (right)

The 2015 general election is expected to be close, with a high chance of another hung parliament, so every seat counts.

Polls put Labour narrowly ahead, putting Mr Miliband on course to lead the biggest parliament if not form an overall majority.

Dr Goodwin identified the Labour seats most at risk from the rise of UKIP by looking at census data as well as results in elections dating from 2010 to this year's European Parliament and local polls.

He took into account the 'Ukip plus vote' of people who backed other Eurosceptic parties in the Euro-elections.

Labour seats which are vulnerable include shadow women's minister Gloria de Piero's Ashfield, constituency in Nottinghamshire.

Ms de Piero said: 'We are a former mining community and we remember what Thatcher did to our pits, so I will be campaigning against Ukip because we don't want a party led by a man who wants to 'keep the flame of Thatcherism alive' in Ashfield.'

Labour's shadow women's minister Gloria de Piero is the most high profile frontbencher who is said to be at risk in her Ashfield constituency in Nottinghamshire

Labour MP Austin Mitchell in standing down in Great Grimsby, where UKIP has selected former Tory candidate Victoria Ayling to fight the seat

Shadow defence minister Alison Seabeck, in Plymouth Moor View and former minister Ian Austin in Dudley North are both at risk.

Great Grimsby is a key target for UKIP, which has selected controversial former Tory candidate Victoria Ayling to contest the seat.

And Rotherham, where UKIP came second in a by-election in 2012, could also be lost by Labour, Dr Goodwin suggested.

He told The Independent: 'Labour is divided about how seriously it should take Ukip. Those in Ed Miliband's team who cling to the misguided view that Nigel Farage's party is not a threat should look at the Labour seats that are most vulnerable to this insurgency.

Those in Ed Miliband's team who cling to the misguided view that Nigel Farage's party is not a threat should look at the Labour seats that are most vulnerable to this insurgency

'The Labour seats that emerge as top prospects for UKIP share several features; they are typically over 95 per cent white British; have large numbers of pensioners and voters with only GCSE or no qualifications; and in 2014 saw Ukip win the popular vote. But it is the local political context that will be crucial at next year's first-past-the-post election.'

While many Labour seats have 'ideal conditions' for a Ukip challenge, they have healthy majorities which will be difficult to overturn, particularly where there are well-embedded incumbent MPs with experience of fighting off the British National Party, like Stoke's Joan Walley, said Dr Goodwin.

He added: 'Ukip need seats that not only have lots of receptive voters but also favourable political conditions where the vote is split across the main parties, making a third party insurgency possible.'

At the weekend Labour's shadow chancellor Ed Balls admitted the party cannot win next year's election unless it becomes tougher on immigration.

In an interview with the Telegraph, the Shadow Chancellor said: 'Polls in previous elections have always suggested that parties like Ukip rise and then fall back on election day.

'I think it would be very foolish of people to [assume] that's going to happen this time round.

'If we're going to win the election, which I think we can, on jobs and the NHS and standing up for people on low and middle incomes against an out-of-touch government, then we cannot look out of touch on an issue that people really care about.'

David Cameron and Nick Clegg have both been forced to react to the rise of UKIP, with the Lib Dem leader (right) giving a speech on immigration this week

The rise of UKIP has also unnerved the Lib Dems, who lost all but one of their MEPs in May's European elections.

Nick Clegg will tomorrow us a speech to speak out in favour of the free movement of European citizens but seek reforms to ensure that fewer Eastern Europeans move here if more countries are admitted to the EU in future.

He will say: 'I want to be unequivocal: freedom of movement between EU member states is a good thing.

'It's a cornerstone of European integration; a right enjoyed by around one and a half million British citizens who live on the other side of the Channel.

'It is necessary in order to be part of the world's biggest single market where goods and people can flow between nations.

'Those who wish to undo it should be careful what they wish for: the blow to UK prosperity would be immense.'