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Britain's ruling Labor suffers heavy blow in latest poll

Other News Materials 31 May 2009 15:01 (UTC +04:00)

Britain's ruling Labor Party is dealt a heavy blow as a new poll reveals on Sunday that it is falling behind the Liberal Democratic Party for the first time in 22 years, Xinhua reported.
   The ICM poll for The Sunday Telegraph shows Labor has suffered badly from the MPs' expenses scandal in voters' trust, with 54 percent respondents saying Labor came out the worst, while 13 percent believed the Conservatives were mostly damaged.
   This gives rise to speculations that party leader Gordon Brown will face a leadership challenge in the next few weeks after the local election and European elections.
   Only 22 percent of voters said they would support Labor in the next general election, compared with 40 percent for the Conservative Party, and 25 percent for the Liberal Democrats. This is the lowest level of support recorded for Labor since ICM started regular polling in 1984.
   As to voter support for the European parliament election, Labor also came the third among the three major parties. The Conservatives led with 29 percent, Liberal Democratic Party followed with 20 percent, and Labor had only 17 percent.
   Analysts believe that if Labor was defeated in local elections and gets less than 20 percent of the vote in the European elections, Brown could face serious challenge from within his cabinet.
   Brown is reportedly planning a cabinet reshuffle next Friday to restore Labor's grasp on political scene.
   Although Conservative leader David Cameron has called for the general election in the wake of the expenses scandal, only 35 percent of voters want a general election now, while another 19 percent want an election in the autumn.

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