May 10, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Britain’s governing Labour party continues to trail its main rival in public support, according to a poll by Populus published in The Times. 40 per cent of respondents would vote for the Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, while 29 per cent would back Labour.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Britain’s governing Labour party continues to trail its main rival in public support, according to a poll by Populus published in The Times. 40 per cent of respondents would vote for the Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, while 29 per cent would back Labour.

The Liberal Democrats are third with 19 per cent. 12 per cent of respondents would vote for other parties.

In June 2007, Gordon Brown officially became Labour leader and prime minister, replacing Tony Blair. Brown had worked as chancellor of the exchequer. Blair served as Britain’s prime minister since May 1997, winning majority mandates in the 1997, 2001 and 2005 elections to the House of Commons.

Since December 2005, David Cameron has been the leader of the Conservative party. In October 2007, Cameron challenged Brown to call a snap election, but the prime minister later announced he would not hold an early ballot.

In December 2007, current parliamentarian Nick Clegg became the new leader of the Liberal Democrats, defeating environment spokesman Chris Huhne in a leadership ballot by just over 500 votes.

On May 1, Labour suffered major losses in local elections. Final results show the Tories received 44 per cent of all cast ballots, followed by the Lib-Dems with 25 per cent, and Labour with 24 per cent. In London’s mayoral race, former magazine editor Boris Johnson of the Conservatives defeated Labour incumbent Ken Livingstone.

On May 2, Brown admitted his party’s defeat, saying, "It’s clear to me that this has been a disappointing night, indeed a bad night for Labour." Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman also expressed disappointment, declaring, "We recognize the difficult economic context with people feeling the pinch. (...) But I think that we are determined to listen and confident to take the country forward."

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 the general election was tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

	May 4	Apr. 17	Apr. 6
Conservative	40%	40%	39%
Labour	29%	30%	33%
Liberal Democrats	19%	19%	17%
Other	12%	11%	11%

Source: Populus / The Times
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,509 British adults, conducted from May 2 to May 4, 2008. No margin of error was provided.