January 21, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The governing Labour party is failing to regain its political strength in Britain, according to a poll by ICM Research. 40 per cent of respondents would vote for the opposition Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, while 33 per cent would back Labour.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The governing Labour party is failing to regain its political strength in Britain, according to a poll by ICM Research. 40 per cent of respondents would vote for the opposition Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, while 33 per cent would back Labour.

The Liberal Democrats are third with 18 per cent, and nine 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.

Last month, current parliamentarian Nick Clegg defeated environment spokesman Chris Huhne in a leadership ballot of Liberal Democrat members by just over 500 votes. In his acceptance speech, Clegg said he wants the Lib-Dems to be "the future of politics" in Britain.

On Jan. 19 in India, Brown declared: "I believe in the next two days we will be able to strengthen (our) economic relationship (with India) and we will work together on other great issues that affect our continents: security and terrorism, the environment, education and science exchanges. (...) I would like greater contact between India and Britain in winning the battle of hearts and minds, in isolating extremist ideologues who try to poison young people."

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. 10	Dec. 19	Nov. 22
Conservative	40%	39%	37%
Labour	33%	34%	31%
Liberal Democrat	18%	18%	21%
Other	9%	9%	10%

Source: ICM Research
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,011 British adults, conducted from Jan. 9 to Jan. 10, 2008. No margin of error was provided.