(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The vast majority of people in Britain think the country’s financial status has been negatively affected during the tenure of Gordon Brown, according to a poll by Populus published in The Times. 82 per cent of respondents say the economy has changed for the worse since Brown became prime minister.

Additionally, 69 per cent of respondents think the level of taxes has changed for the worse since Brown took over, and more than half also blame him for negatively affecting standards in public life and the policies to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour. Just over 10 per cent of respondents praise Brown for the way he has dealt with the situation in Iraq, the National Health Service (NHS) and standards in schools.

In June 2007, 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 last year, defaults on so-called subprime mortgages—credit given to high-risk borrowers—in the United States have caused volatility in domestic and financial markets and raised concerns that the U.S. economy could fall into a recession, affecting the global economy.

The British economy was also hit by a global financial crisis attached to high risk loans. Last year, the British Northern Rock bank—a prominent mortgage lender—was forced to seek emergency funding from the government.

On Jul. 21, the ITEM Club, a think-tank backed by Ernst and Young, released a report forecasting that the British economy will only grow by one per cent in 2009, and stating, "As with any horror movie, there is an escape route but it is not an easy one. (...) It is imperative that wage increases remain restrained, despite the tremendous pressure from food and energy cost inflation. A general outbreak of wage inflation would spell disaster, requiring much higher interest rates and a recession in output to get inflation back under control."

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

It is now just over a year since Gordon Brown took over as prime minister from Tony Blair. Do you think that the following things have changed for the better, changed for the worse, or not really changed at all, compared with how they were before Gordon Brown became prime minister?

Source: Populus / The Times
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,507 British adults, conducted from Jul. 4 to Jul. 6, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

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