UK’s Labour Party up in the Polls

February 12, 2013

Comments

Via the BBC: Labour leads Conservatives by 12 points in poll

Labour has forged a 12-point lead over the Conservatives for the first time in almost a decade, according to a Guardian/ICM poll.

Ed Miliband’s party now stands at 41% of the vote, up three points on ICM’s January figure, and the Tories are on just 29%, having slipped back four from 33% last month. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats have sunk two points, to 13%, whereas Ukip has inched up three to 9% – setting a new record for Nigel Farage’s anti-European outfit in the Guardian/ICM series.

The Labour lead is the biggest – and the Conservative vote-share the smallest – in the polling series since May 2003, during the brief political bounce for Tony Blair which came between the felling of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad and first stirrings of civil war in Iraq and arguments about dodgy dossiers.

The good news for the Conservatives is that these numbers have not been taken in the context of an electoral campaign.

Assuming that that the current House of Commons serves it full five years, the next election will beheld in May of 2015.

5 responses to “UK’s Labour Party up in the Polls”

OzarkHillbilly

February 12, 2013 at 9:00 am

Assuming that that the current House of Commons serves it full five years, the next election will beheld in May of 2015.

Plenty of time for things to get worse for the Tories.
stonetools

February 12, 2013 at 10:42 am

Since the Tories choked off a weak recovery and pushed the UK into a double dip recession with its austerity program, its decline in the polls is richly deserved.

We should take note that the Republican economic proposals, such as they are, would have the same result in the US if implemented..
Budgie93

February 13, 2013 at 8:34 am

We have fixed-term Parliaments now, so the election will be in 2015 regardless.
Steven Taylor

February 13, 2013 at 10:50 am

@Budgie93: It was my understanding that even under the new law that early elections could still be called, but it is simply more difficult.

Am I mistaken?
al-Ameda

February 13, 2013 at 11:09 pm

@stonetools:

We should take note that the Republican economic proposals, such as they are, would have the same result in the US if implemented..

Exactly right. It is no coincidence that America’s recovery – though anemic – has generally far exceeded those of quite a few of the Eurozone economies. American conservatives want real spending cuts and are quite willing to tank the economy.