(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The opposition Conservative party has extended its lead in Britain, according to a poll by YouGov released in the Daily Telegraph. 47 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next election to the House of Commons.

The governing Labour party is second with 23 per cent, followed by the Liberal Democrats with 18 per cent. 12 per cent of respondents would vote for other parties. Support for the Conservatives increased by two points since mid-May, while backing for Labour fell by the same margin.

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 Jun. 1, Cameron expressed dissatisfaction with the situation in Myanmar—where a cyclone has killed an estimated 100,000 residents—writing, "If many more people die at this stage, it will not be because of Mother Nature. It will be because of the criminal negligence of the Burmese regime, and because the world—despite its fine words and grand meetings—will have failed the Burmese people in their hour of need."

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 / Daily Telegraph
Methodology: Online interviews with 2,241 British voters, conducted from May 27 to May 29, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

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