May 04, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Britain’s governing Labour party lost public backing last month, according to a poll by Communicate Research published in The Independent. 26 per cent of respondents would vote for Labour in the next election to the House of Commons, down four points since March.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Britain’s governing Labour party lost public backing last month, according to a poll by Communicate Research published in The Independent. 26 per cent of respondents would vote for Labour in the next election to the House of Commons, down four points since March.

Support for the opposition Conservative party stands at 40 per cent, up two points in a month. The Liberal Democrats are third with 20 per cent, up three points since March. 14 per cent of respondents would support 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.

Last year, Brown said he was considering a revision on the classification of cannabis as a soft drug. In Britain, drugs are placed into alphabetical categories, in accordance with the level of penalties that can be administered for possession and dealing. Heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and magic mushrooms are included in Class A, speed and barbiturates are part of Class B, and marijuana and some tranquilizers are featured in Class C. Brown’s government wants cannabis to become a Class B drug.

On Apr. 30, Brown hinted that he might change the classification of cannabis, claiming that a report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD)—which advised the government to keep cannabis in its original class—was not taking into account some issues. Brown referred to the ACMD report, saying, "I don’t think that the previous studies took into account that so much of the cannabis on the streets is now of a lethal quality and we really have got to send out a message to young people—this is not acceptable."

Polling Data

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

	Apr. 2008	Mar. 2008	Feb. 2008
Conservative	40%	38%	41%
Labour	26%	31%	30%
Liberal Democrat	20%	17%	17%
Other	14%	14%	12%

Source: Communicate Research / The Independent
Methodology: Interviews with 1,005 British adults, conducted from Apr. 25 to Apr. 27, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.