July 16, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The opposition Conservative party is leading all rivals in Britain, according to a poll by YouGov. 47 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next general election, up one point since late June.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The opposition Conservative party is leading all rivals in Britain, according to a poll by YouGov. 47 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next general election, up one point since late June.

The governing Labour party is second with 25 per cent—down three points in three weeks—followed by the Liberal Democrats with 16 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 Jul. 11, Tory member David Davis won a by-election in Haltemprice and Howden. Davis had resigned his seat to protest the government’s plans to amend existing legislation to increase the time police can hold a terrorist suspect without charge from 28 days to 42 days.

Clegg discussed Davis’ actions, saying, "The Conservatives are a long way from being defenders of liberty. David Davis’ lonely stand only highlights the big questions that still remain over whether the Conservatives really are committed to protecting our freedom."

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 a general election tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

	Jul. 11	Jun. 25	Jun. 13
Conservative	47%	46%	47%
Labour	25%	28%	25%
Liberal Democrats	16%	15%	18%
Other	12%	11%	10%

Source: YouGov
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,832 British voters, conducted on Jul. 10 and Jul. 11, 2008. No margin of error was provided.