UK:More than a third of voters would consider voting for a party that backs Britain's withdrawal from the European Union, a poll published yesterday showed, adding to growing pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron to address the threat to his support.
Mr Cameron cannot win a parliamentary majority in a national election due in 2015 without support from traditional right-leaning supporters who, polls show, are ditching his Conservatives in favour of the UK Independence Party, commentators say.
A week after Ukip got its biggest share of the vote in an election for a parliamentary seat, a YouGov poll found 36 per cent of respondents would potentially back them in a national poll. Ukip has siphoned off support from the Conservative Party by denouncing EU bureaucracy and immigration from eastern Europe. Last Thursday, it took second place in an election for a vacant parliamentary seat in southern England.
Mr Cameron has promised an in/out referendum by the end of 2017 on Britain’s membership of the EU, but last week’s result and the YouGov poll suggest that he has failed to woo sceptical voters deserting him for Ukip.– (Reuters)