Conservatives' Poll Lead Shrinks

The Conservatives' lead in the polls for the upcoming May, 2010, election has shrunken. The Conservatives', long ahead in the polls, have seen their lead gradually shrink as they fail to effectively win over the British electorate.

According to the latest ComRes poll, the Conservatives' lead over Labour has contracted to 5%; they now stand at 37% nationally, with Labour at 32%, the Liberal Democrats at 19%, and all other parties at a combined 12%.

Despite their the lead, if the election results mirrored the poll results than the Conservatives would still have less seats than Labour in Westminster due to complexities in the country's first-past-the-post electoral system., with Labour at 294 seats (32 short of a basic majority), the Conservatives at277, the Liberal Democrats at 46, and all others at a combined 33.

While Gordon Brown's reign as Prime Minister (and Labour's longer dominance of the top seat) has not been without its faults, the majority of the British public do not hold the reining government as responsible for the recession as the citizens of other countries do their leaders. The polled population reports a split belief concerning the party leader most able to bring Britain back to economic health, with the Conservatives (under leader David Cameron) earning 43% of voter confidence and Labour (under Gordon Brown) just behind them at 42%.

While Labour might retain a plurality in the Commons after this year's election, they have fallen into disrepute. If a hung parliament is formed after May, there is a still greater chance that Labour, who control the Prime Minister's chair, will be blamed for the country's legislative incompetence. We still must see how the British electorate's allegiances change in the two months leading up to the election, a time that will be marked by desperate attempts from both of the major parties to claim a greater share of the vote.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/hung-parliament-looms-as-tory-poll-lead-cut-to-5-points-1914288.html