THATCHER PARTY HAS NINE POINT POLL LEAD
Britain's ruling Conservatives have a
nine point lead over the main opposition Labour Party, their
biggest in two years, according to an opinion poll published in
the Sunday Times.
    The MORI poll's findings come as the latest in a series of
setbacks for Labour and are bound to encourage talk that Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher may call a general election in June.
    The poll gives the Conservatives a rating of 41 pct against
32 pct for Labour and 25 pct for the centrist Liberal-Social
Democratic Alliance -- enough to give Thatcher an overall
majority of 46 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons.
    The poll, which follows a survey by Marplan last week
giving the Conservatives a six-point lead over Labour, shows
how dramatically the fortunes of Britain's two largest parties
have changed over the past six months.
    As recently as September, Labour was still ahead in opinion
polls and was looking forward to forming Britain's next
government. Since then, it has been beset by inner wrangling
and its popularity among Britain's voters has tumbled.
    Morale among Labour politicians slumped further last month
when the party lost a key by-election in Greenwich, south
London -- a seat which Labour had held for 50 years.
 REUTER
