October 31, 2006

Abstract: - The Conservative party continues to dominate Britain's political scene, according to a poll by ICM Research published in The Guardian. 39 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next general election.

- The Conservative party continues to dominate Britain's political scene, according to a poll by ICM Research published in The Guardian. 39 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next general election.

The governing Labour party is second with 29 per cent, followed by the Liberal Democrats with 22 per cent. Nine per cent of respondents would vote for other parties. Support for the Tories increased by one point since early October, while backing for Labour fell by three points.

In May 2005, British voters renewed the House of Commons. The Labour party secured 356 seats, followed by the Conservatives with 197 and the Liberal Democrats with 62. Labour leader Tony Blair has served as prime minister since 1997. On Sept. 7, Blair announced his eventual retirement from politics. Current chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown has been mentioned as his possible replacement.

Since December 2005, David Cameron has been the leader of the Conservative party. In March, the Liberal Democrats chose foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell as their new leader.

Yesterday, Blair called for "bold and decisive action" on global warming, declaring, "It is not in doubt that, if the science is right, the consequences for our planet are literally disastrous. Unless we act now, these consequences will be irreversible."

The term global warming refers to an increase of the Earth's average temperature. Some theories say that climate change might be the result of human-generated carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

In 1998, several countries agreed to the Kyoto Protocol, a proposed amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The agreement commits nations to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. As a member of the European Union (EU), Britain ratified the protocol in May 2002.

The next election to the House of Commons must be held on or before Jun. 3, 2010. Sitting prime ministers can dissolve Parliament and call an early ballot at their discretion.

Polling Data

If there were to be a general election tomorrow, which party do you think you would vote for?

	Oct. 22	Oct. 5	Sept. 30
Conservative	39%	38%	36%
Labour	29%	32%	35%
Liberal Democrat	22%	20%	19%
Other	9%	10%	11%

Source: ICM Research / The Guardian
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,019 British adults, conducted from Oct. 20 to Oct. 22, 2006. No margin of error was provided.