(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The Conservative party remains ahead in Britain, according to a poll by YouGov. 45 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next general election, down two points in two weeks.

The governing Labour party is second with 26 per cent, followed by the Liberal Democrats with 17 per cent. 12 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.

On Jul. 28, Clegg called on the government to protect citizens from rising energy prices, saying, "Many people will wonder how energy companies can enjoy a massive subsidy at a time when many families are facing an increasingly desperate struggle to pay their energy bills."

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 2,120 British voters, conducted on Jul. 23 and Jul. 25, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

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