October 19, 2007

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Britain’s main opposition party is more popular than the governing political organization at this moment, according to a poll by BPIX. 41 per cent of respondents would vote for the Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, while 37 per cent would back the ruling Labour party.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Britain’s main opposition party is more popular than the governing political organization at this moment, according to a poll by BPIX. 41 per cent of respondents would vote for the Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, while 37 per cent would back the ruling Labour party.

The Liberal Democrats are third with 11 per cent, while 11 per cent of respondents would vote for other parties.

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 in November, and the new Lib-Dem leader will be announced on Dec. 17. The preliminary list of Campbell’s possible successors includes environment spokesman Chris Huhne and current parliamentarian Nick Clegg.

On Oct. 17, Cameron renewed accusations against Brown for breaking a previous Labour promise of putting the adoption of a common European Union (EU) treaty to a nationwide referendum, saying, "So will he tell us, why won’t he grant a referendum on that constitution?" Brown argued that the document under negotiation is not a constitutional treaty, but an amending treaty, and declared: "The treaty is different because we won a protocol in the Charter of Rights, because we have got an opt-in on justice and home-affairs, because we’ve got an emergency break on social security."

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 to be a general election tomorrow, which party do you think you would vote for?

Conservative	41%
Labour	37%
Liberal Democrat	11%
Other	11%

Source: BPIX
Methodology: Online interviews with 2,081 British adults, conducted from Oct. 11 to Oct. 13, 2007. No margin of error was provided.