April 03, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The opposition Conservative party has lost public support in Britain, according to a poll by Communicate Research published in The Independent. 38 per cent of respondents would support the Tories in the next election to the House of Commons, down three points since February.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The opposition Conservative party has lost public support in Britain, according to a poll by Communicate Research published in The Independent. 38 per cent of respondents would support the Tories in the next election to the House of Commons, down three points since February.

The ruling Labour party is second with 31 per cent—up one point in a month—followed by the Liberal Democrats with 17 per cent. 14 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. 1, a House of Lords multi-party committee on economic affairs called for an "explicit target range" to limit immigration in Britain and criticized Brown’s argument that the country needs immigrants to face a labour shortage as "fundamentally flawed."

Brown rejected the committee’s recommendations, saying that the British economy has greatly benefited from newcomers, adding, "Not just from the inward investment that’s coming from international companies, but the number of key workers who are coming to join them and are making a huge contribution to the British economy."

Polling Data

What party would you vote for in the next general election?

	Mar. 2008	Feb. 2008	Dec. 2007
Conservative	38%	41%	41%
Labour	31%	30%	30%
Liberal Democrat	17%	17%	16%
Other	14%	12%	13%

Source: Communicate Research / The Independent
Methodology: Interviews with 1,004 British adults, conducted from Mar. 28 to Mar. 30, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.