December 30, 2007

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Public support for the opposition Conservative party increased this month in Britain, according to a poll by ICM Research published in The Guardian. 39 per cent of respondents would back the Tories the next general election, up two points since November.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Public support for the opposition Conservative party increased this month in Britain, according to a poll by ICM Research published in The Guardian. 39 per cent of respondents would back the Tories the next general election, up two points since November.

The governing Labour party is second with 34 per cent, followed by the Liberal Democrats with 18 per cent. Nine per cent of respondents would vote for other parties. Support for Labour increased by three points in a month, while backing for the Lib-Dems 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. In October, Cameron challenged Brown to call a snap election, but the prime minister later announced he would not hold an early ballot.

Earlier this month, current parliamentarian Nick Clegg defeated environment spokesman Chris Huhne in a leadership ballot of Liberal Democrat members by just over 500 votes. In his acceptance speech, Clegg said he wants the Lib-Dems to be "the future of politics" in Britain.

On Dec. 28, Brown discussed his views on the war on terrorism—after the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto—declaring, "What’s important is that those terrorists who have tried to bomb, kill and maim their way to stop democracy in Pakistan are not successful. It is clear that we must take immediate action and we will give whatever help we can. At every point terrorism must be fought and we will win here, there and everywhere in the fight against terrorism."

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?

	Dec. 19	Nov. 22	Nov. 10
Conservative	39%	37%	43%
Labour	34%	31%	35%
Liberal Democrat	18%	21%	15%
Other	9%	10%	7%

Source: ICM Research / The Guardian
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,005 British adults, conducted on Dec. 18 and Dec. 19, 2007. No margin of error was provided.