Britain's Conservatives takes largest lead in poll over Labor amid public discontent with economy, Afghanistan policy

LONDON, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Britain's Conservatives have moved into their biggest lead in a poll over Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labor Party since September as the public expressed strong dissatisfaction with economic gloom and Brown's strategy toward Afghanistan.

A poll released by the YouGov, an international Internet-based market research firm in Britain on Sunday showed that the Tories had an approval rating of 42 percent against Labor with 25 percent, underlining the possibility that the Conservatives will win the next election if current voting intentions continue.

DOUBTFUL ECONOMIC COMPETENCE

The poll of nearly 2,000 people showed that the Conservatives' leader are significantly more trusted to run the economy than the prime minister and his Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday that the British economy will shrink by 4.2 percent in 2009 and will only recover to a weak gain of 0.2 percent next year.

The British people remained worried about unemployment as the Office for National Statistics reported last week that the unemployment rate in Britain has hit 7.6 percent, the highest since January 1997.

It said the jobless rate in the March-May period increased by 0.9 percent over the previous three months and up by 2.4 percent compared with the same period last year.

Some economists said the unemployment rate in the country will keep rising long after the recession ends.

The poll showed that 48 percent of the British people fear that they or a close member of their family will lose their job as a result of the financial crisis.

The Sunday Times reported that in addition, public anger with the banks remains intense, following reports last week that some intended to reward their staff with huge bonuses.