UK Conservatives hold 17% lead over Labour, down from 19%
The ruling Conservative party of British Prime Minister Theresa May has a 17 percent lead ahead of the second place Labour party as a snap election scheduled for June approaches.
According to a new poll conducted by research group Opinium on April 25 and published on April 29, Saturday, the Conservatives hold 47 percent of the votes in its bag, while the main opposition Labour Party has 30 percent.
Last week, Conservatives had 45 percent and Labour 26 percent indicating a 19% lead.
Votes for the Liberal Democrats, who wish to remain in the European Union, was down to 8 percent, and the eurosceptic UKIP dropped to 7 percent.
May called for the snap election in a surprise move on April 18, in order to bolster her position before going into two years of negotiations with the EU about the terms of Britain’s departure from the bloc, commonly referred to as Brexit.
The snap election is scheduled for June 8, 2017.
In 2016, the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum was held on June 23, in which 52 percent of Britons voted in favor of Brexit.
In the meantime, EU leaders have dismissed the notion that that the early elections in Britain would give the British government any leverage in the upcoming Brexit negotiations.
Repeatedly, EU leaders have been warning Britain that its decision to exit the EU would have dire consequences and cost London dearly.
"There will inevitably be a price and a cost for Britain, it's the choice they made," French President Francois Hollande said on Saturday as he arrived in Brussels, Belgium for an EU summit to adopt guidelines for negotiations on Brexit.
Hollande said the framework for the Brexit talks has already been fixed by the negotiators.
“The EU's principles and the objectives are already fixed, these will be the lines chosen by negotiators,” he said.
Hollande dismissed the idea that the June elections in Britain could give the ruling conservative party an advantage.
“I can understand the electoral argument, but it will not influence the EU,” he said.
The remaining 27 members of the EU have agreed on a unified strategy for the Brexit talks, Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said in Brussels.
“We are very united ... it's a fact,” Bettel said.
Britain's snap electon reflects "an internal problem she [May] wants to resolve in the Conservative party," he said.
"Guidelines adopted unanimously. EU27 firm and fair political mandate for the Brexit talks is ready," EU President Donald Tusk tweeted on Saturday.
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