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Conservative Lead Narrows in Britain
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The Conservative party holds a smaller advantage over the governing Labour party in Britain, according to a poll by Populus published in The Times. 41 per cent of respondents would support the Tories in the next election to the House of Commons, while 35 per cent would vote for Labour.
The Liberal Democrats are third with 16 per cent. Eight per cent of respondents would vote for other parties. Support for the Tories fell by four points since early October, while backing for Labour increased by five points.
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 Nov. 13, Brown discussed his views on the global economic crisis, saying, "Let me send out the strongest message that the road to economic ruin in the past has been following the path of protectionism. The way forward is not countries working in isolation or against each other, but countries co-operating together."
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?
|
Nov. 9 |
Oct. 5 |
Aug. 31 |
|
|
Conservative |
41% |
45% |
43% |
|
Labour |
35% |
30% |
27% |
|
Liberal Democrats |
16% |
15% |
18% |
|
Other |
8% |
10% |
12% |
Source: Populus / The Times
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,503 British adults, conducted from Nov. 7 to Nov. 9, 2008. No margin of error was provided.