April 27, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The Conservative party holds a large lead in Britain, according to a poll by YouGov. 44 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next general election.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The Conservative party holds a large lead in Britain, according to a poll by YouGov. 44 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next general election.

The governing Labour party is second with 26 per cent—down two points since mid-April—followed by the Liberal Democrats with 17 per cent. 11 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.

Earlier this month, Britain’s new tax system came into effect. While the standard income tax was reduced from 22 per cent to 20 per cent, the lowest bracket—10p—was eliminated. Six ministerial aides and 70 Labour parliamentarians have publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the move.

On Apr. 25, Cameron discussed his views, saying, "I’ve just been listening to candidates and councillors from the Vale of Glamorgan and they have been saying to me that the 10p tax rate is coming up again and again. Labour are punishing the low-paid and the people of Wales should turn around and punish the Labour party."

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?

	Apr. 23	Apr. 11	Mar. 14
Conservative	44%	44%	43%
Labour	26%	28%	27%
Liberal Democrats	17%	17%	16%
Other	13%	11%	13%

Source: YouGov
Methodology: Online interviews with 2,073 British voters, conducted from Apr. 21 to Apr. 23, 2008. No margin of error was provided.