April 12, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The opposition Conservative party remains ahead in Britain, according to a poll by Populus published in The Times. 39 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next election to the House of Commons, up two points since early March.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The opposition Conservative party remains ahead in Britain, according to a poll by Populus published in The Times. 39 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next election to the House of Commons, up two points since early March.

The governing Labour party is second with 33 per cent—down one point in a month—followed by the Liberal Democrats with 17 per cent. 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.

On Apr. 10, Cameron discussed his views on family, saying, "We need to build stronger families and more responsible communities, so that kids grow up knowing the difference between right and wrong. (...) Most important of all, parents need to take the responsibility of parenthood seriously. That is a harder and longer task than sorting out the criminal justice system. It is a task for a generation."

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 the general election was tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

	Apr. 6	Mar. 9	Feb. 3
Conservative	39%	37%	40%
Labour	33%	34%	31%
Liberal Democrats	17%	19%	17%
Other	11%	10%	12%

Source: Populus / The Times
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,502 British adults, conducted from Apr. 4 to Apr. 6, 2008. No margin of error was provided.