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Message-id: <britain-electionU2A7920ae@clarinet.com>
Subject: Labor holds lead in Britain election campaign
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government, election, politics,
	political parties, political personalities
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 92 6:23:00 PDT
Location: great britain
ACategory: international
Slugword: britain-election
Priority: regular
Format: regular
ANPA: Wc: 462; Id: z2643; Sel: xxigf; Adate: 4-7-920aed
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	LONDON (UPI) -- Two opinion polls sampling voter opinion in the
general election campaign indicated Tuesday that the opposition Labor
Party was on course to become the largest party in a hung British
Parliament.
	With only two days before Thursday's election, considered the most
closely contested in 20 years, a large ICM poll for the Press
Association news agency put Labor at 38.7 percent, 2.5 points ahead of
the ruling Conservatives, who stood at 36.2. The Liberal Democrats, the
third-largest party, received 20.4 percent and other parties 4.7
percent.
	If the ICM results were repeated on polling day, Labor would be the
largest single party, but around 20 seats short of an overall majority
in the 651-seat House of Commons. Labor leader Neil Kinnock would have
to form a coalition government to enter Downing Street in a minority
government.
	The ICM poll, which interviewed 10,000 people for the Press
Association, the national press agency, showed a drop of 7 percent for
the Conservatives with Labor down 6 percent, compared with the 1987
general election. Previous polls have been smaller, contacting between
1,000 to 2,000 would-be voters.
	In a separate survey, a Harris poll for the the Daily Express gave
Labor a 1-point lead at 38 percent with the Conservatives at 37 percent
and the Liberal Democrats at 21 percent.
	The new polls were in line with most recent surveys that showed Labor
leading the Conservatives, who have been in power for 13 years.
	The polls came as the parties returned to the topics they believe
will attract uncommitted voters.
	The Conservatives highlighted the economy, arguing that a return of
their party for an historic fourth term was essential to ensure
recovery.
	``Business is giving the Conservatives the thumbs up, and Labor the
thumbs down. (This is) highly relevant because it is from business that
the recovery will come,'' Prime Minister John Major said.
	Labor argued that the National Health Service, which provides free
medical care, was not safe in Conservative hands. Kinnock said a vote
for the Conservatives would be a vote for breaking up the health service
while a vote for Labour would help build it up.
	Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown defended his commitment to
electoral reform as a pre-condition to joining a ruling coalition in the
case of a hung Parliament.
	``What is necessary for the two parties to work together are the
conditions in which they have a stable relationship -- proportional
representation is the essential condition which allows that stable
relationship,'' he said.
	Both Labor and the Conservatives have ruled out a post-election
electoral reform pact with the Liberal Democrats.
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