Brown’s party trails in two opinion polls
Posted by African Press International on August 17, 2009
Britain’s opposition Conservative Party shadow Chancellor George Osborne delivers a keynote address at Demos in London August 11, 2009. REUTERS
LONDON, Sunday
Britain’s ruling Labour Party trails the opposition Conservatives by up to 17 points in the polls with a parliamentary election less than a year away, according to two surveys published today.
A YouGov poll for the Sunday Times put Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour at 28 per cent, with David Cameron’s Conservatives at 42 per cent.
A poll by ICM for the Sunday Mirror newspaper showed Labour down one point from last month at 26 per cent and the Conservatives up two points at 43, giving them a 17 point lead.
Mr Brown has been trying to revive his party’s fortunes after its support slumped to the lowest level in a century in European elections in June. Analysts have blamed everything from the economic crisis and rising unemployment to a scandal over lawmakers’ expenses claims and Brown’s personal style for Labour’s poor showing in polls.
The former finance minister survived calls to quit from Labour ministers who said it would give the party a better chance of winning an historic fourth election in a row.
Mr Brown has focused attention on helping Britain to emerge from its worst recession since World War Two and has been buoyed by tentative signs of a recovery in recent economic data.
However, the YouGov poll suggested that most voters do not expect the economy to recover until next year at the earliest.
Only seven per cent think the economy has already started growing again, while a further 13 per cent believe the recovery will begin before the end of the year.
Seven out of 10 of those polled by YouGov said economic conditions will not improve until next year or 2011 and nearly half fear they or a close family member will lose their job.
Britain’s jobless rate reached 7.8 per cent or 2.4 million people in the three months to June, the highest since 1996, official data showed last Wednesday.
In a report last week, the Bank of England predicted Britain’s worst recession in decades would end early next year. (Reuters)
source.nation.ke
