November 02, 2007

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - People in Britain are divided on whether to keep their country’s current political leadership after the next general election, according to a poll by YouGov published in the Daily Telegraph. 42 per cent of respondents would like to see the Labour party under prime minister Gordon Brown stay in office after the next election to the House of Commons, down five points since September.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - People in Britain are divided on whether to keep their country’s current political leadership after the next general election, according to a poll by YouGov published in the Daily Telegraph. 42 per cent of respondents would like to see the Labour party under prime minister Gordon Brown stay in office after the next election to the House of Commons, down five points since September.

Conversely, 39 per cent of respondents want the Conservative party and its leader, David Cameron, to form the government after the next election, up seven points in a month.

In June, 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, 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.

On Oct. 31, after the government admitted it had miscalculated the number of migrant workers in Britain, Brown said he wants British people to get jobs available in the country, declaring, "If you look at the jobs situation as a whole, there are 600,000 vacancies in the economy. I am really keen to get British people to take up these vacancies. (...) You can get to a situation where British people who want jobs get a chance to get those jobs."

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 you had to choose, which would you prefer to see after the next election?

	Oct. 2007	Sept. 2007
A Labour government under Gordon Brown	42%	47%
A Conservative government under David Cameron	39%	32%
Don’t know	19%	21%

Source: YouGov / Daily Telegraph
Methodology: Online interviews with 2,105 British adults, conducted from Oct. 22 to Oct. 24, 2007. No margin of error was provided.