(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Britain’s official opposition party continues to lead all of its contenders by a large margin, according to a poll by Communicate Research published in The Independent. 44 per cent of respondents would vote for the Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, down two points since late August.

The governing Labour party is second with 25 per cent, 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 Sept. 7, Cameron referred to the fact that some members of the Labour party do not fully support Brown, stating, "I say to the Labour party, the foreign secretary and everyone included: make up your mind—back the guy or sack the guy. (...) Behaving as you are for the moment is bad for the country."

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

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

Source: Communicate Research / The Independent
Methodology: Interviews with 1,013 British adults, conducted on Sept. 3 and Sept. 4, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

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