November 26, 2007

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The opposition Conservative party maintains a steady level of public support in Britain, according to a poll by YouGov. 41 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next election to the House of Commons, unchanged since late October.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The opposition Conservative party maintains a steady level of public support in Britain, according to a poll by YouGov. 41 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next election to the House of Commons, unchanged since late October.

The governing Labour party is second with 32 per cent, followed by the Liberal Democrats with 14 per cent. 13 per cent of respondents would vote for other parties. Support for Labour fell by three points, while backing for the Lib-Dems increased by one point.

In June, 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, Cameron challenged Brown to call a snap election, but the prime minister later announced he would not hold an early ballot.

In March 2006, the Liberal Democrats chose foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell as their new leader. On Oct. 15, Campbell tendered his resignation. A leadership ballot of party members is currently underway, and the new Lib-Dem leader will be announced on Dec. 17. Campbell’s possible successors are environment spokesman Chris Huhne and current parliamentarian Nick Clegg.

On Nov. 24 in the Czech Republic, Cameron appeared to criticize the Labour government, saying, "Today we can see the enemies of freedom preparing a renewed assault on our liberty. They do not mean to harm us. In fact, they mean to help us. But their ideas are out of date, their methods have failed and their advance must be derailed. I am speaking of the politicians and public officials who believe that they know best how to organize our lives, that they are the experts, so they must have the power."

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 a general election tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

	Nov. 22	Nov. 16	Oct. 24
Conservative	41%	41%	41%
Labour	32%	35%	38%
Liberal Democrats	14%	13%	11%
Other	13%	11%	10%

Source: YouGov
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,600 British adults, conducted from Nov. 21 to Nov. 22, 2007. No margin of error was provided.