(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The governing Labour party is facing a negative trend in Britain, according to a poll by YouGov. 41 per cent of respondent would vote for the opposition Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, while 35 per cent would support Labour.

The Liberal Democrats are third with 13 per cent, and 11 per cent of respondents would vote for other parties. Support for the Tories has remained unchanged since late October, while backing for Labour fell by three points.

In June, 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. On Oct. 3, during the party’s annual conference, Cameron talked about his work in reforming the party and bringing it to the centre of the political spectrum. He also challenged Brown to call an early election. On Oct. 6, the prime minister announced he would not hold an early ballot.

In March 2006, the Liberal Democrats chose foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell as their new leader. On Oct. 15, Campbell tendered his resignation. A leadership ballot of party members will take place this month, and the new Lib-Dem leader will be announced on Dec. 17. Campbell’s possible successors are environment spokesman Chris Huhne and current parliamentarian Nick Clegg.

On Nov. 17, senior Conservative lawmaker Patrick Mercer warned that Clegg can make an "extremely favourable impression" on Tory supporters, and could represent a threat to Cameron’s leadership, adding, "He is talked about extremely favourably among the voters of Newark, who are prevalently Tories."

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?

Source: YouGov
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,983 British adults, conducted from Nov. 14 to Nov. 16, 2007. No margin of error was provided.

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