February 06, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Britain’s governing Labour party continues to lose public support, according to a poll by ICM Research. 37 per cent of respondents would back the opposition Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, unchanged since mid-January.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Britain’s governing Labour party continues to lose public support, according to a poll by ICM Research. 37 per cent of respondents would back the opposition Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, unchanged since mid-January.

Labour is second with 32 per cent, down three points in just over ten days, followed by the Liberal Democrats with 21 per cent.

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.

A recent report by the centre-right think-tank Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) revealed that the average household in Britain now pays about $33,400 U.S. in taxes—an increase of about $15,300 U.S. since Labour first came to power.

On Feb. 4, Conservative shadow chancellor George Osborne commented on the report, saying, "The increase has been dramatic and has left households very exposed to any significant increase in interest rates. (The document) shows how the cost of living has soared under Labour."

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?

	Jan. 31	Jan. 20	Jan. 10
Conservative	37%	37%	40%
Labour	32%	35%	33%
Liberal Democrat	21%	20%	18%
Other	10%	8%	9%

Source: ICM Research
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,012 British adults, conducted on Jan. 30 and Jan. 31, 2008. No margin of error was provided.