January 03, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The opposition Conservative party is holding to the top spot in Britain’s political scene, according to a poll by YouGov. 40 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories the next election to the House of Commons, down five points since mid-December.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The opposition Conservative party is holding to the top spot in Britain’s political scene, according to a poll by YouGov. 40 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories the next election to the House of Commons, down five points since mid-December.

The governing Labour party is second with 35 per cent, followed by the Liberal Democrats with 15 per cent. Ten per cent of respondents would vote for other parties. Support for Labour increased by three points in two weeks, while backing for the Lib-Dems went up by one point.

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.

Yesterday, Cameron discussed his views on the National Health Service (NHS), saying, "In this, the NHS’s 60th year, the Conservative party has an historic opportunity to replace Labour as the party of the NHS. That’s quite an aspiration, but I believe it is our duty to live up to it. (...) I believe that Conservatives should never attack an institution which so many of our fellow countrymen and women look to as one of the great achievements of our past."

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?

	Dec. 27	Dec. 14	Nov. 28
Conservative	40%	45%	43%
Labour	35%	32%	32%
Liberal Democrats	15%	14%	14%
Other	10%	9%	11%

Source: YouGov
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,566 British adults, conducted from Dec. 20 and Dec. 27, 2007. No margin of error was provided.