October 06, 2007

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The governing Labour party remains the top political organization in Britain, according to a poll by Populus published in The Times. 39 per cent of respondents would support Labour in the next general election.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The governing Labour party remains the top political organization in Britain, according to a poll by Populus published in The Times. 39 per cent of respondents would support Labour in the next general election.

The opposition Conservative party is second with 36 per cent, followed by the Liberal Democrats with 14 per cent. 11 per cent of respondents would vote for other parties. Support for Labour fell by two points since late September, while backing for the Tories increased by five points.

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, David Cameron has been the leader of the Conservative party. In March 2006, the Liberal Democrats chose foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell as their new leader.

On Oct. 3, Cameron dared Brown to call an early ballot, saying, "Let the people pass judgement on 10 years of broken promises, let people decide who’s really making the arguments about the future of our country. Let people decide who can make the changes that we really need in our country. Call that election. We will fight. Britain will win."

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?

	Oct. 3	Sept. 27	Sept. 2
Labour	39%	41%	37%
Conservative	36%	31%	36%
Liberal Democrats	14%	17%	18%
Other	11%	10%	9%

Source: Populus / The Times
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 803 British adults, conducted on Oct. 2 and Oct. 3, 2007. No margin of error was provided.