March 07, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Britain’s governing Labour party remains stalled in second place, according to a poll by YouGov. 40 per cent of respondents would vote for the opposition Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, while 33 per cent would back Labour.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Britain’s governing Labour party remains stalled in second place, according to a poll by YouGov. 40 per cent of respondents would vote for the opposition Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, while 33 per cent would back Labour.

The Liberal Democrats are third with 16 per cent, and 11 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.

Last year, Brown introduced tax cuts for second-home owners. Earlier this month, Stuart Burgess, the government’s advisor for rural affairs, said that maintaining the tax cut for owners of second homes will worsen an already delicate housing crisis in the countryside, saying, "In some rural areas the proportion of second homes is very high. They total nearly a quarter of homes around Brancaster, on the North Norfolk coast. This can significantly affect local housing affordability and the sustainability of communities. I would urge the government to consider removing this tax reduction."

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?

	Feb. 27	Feb. 15	Jan. 11
Conservative	40%	41%	43%
Labour	33%	32%	33%
Liberal Democrats	16%	16%	14%
Other	11%	11%	10%

Source: YouGov
Methodology: Online interviews with 2,011 British adults, conducted from Feb. 25 to Feb. 27, 2008. No margin of error was provided.