"UK, Rising Dissatisfaction with COVID-19 and Brexit... Conservatives Likely to Lose Majority if General Election Held"

Conservative Party Seat Decline Expected in Voter Opinion Poll

Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom [Photo by AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Last year, the British public showed significant dissatisfaction with the UK government led by Boris Johnson, which experienced turmoil due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and Brexit (the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union). Accordingly, if a general election were held tomorrow, Prime Minister Johnson's Conservative Party is expected not to secure a majority of seats.

On the 2nd (local time), according to the daily newspaper The Guardian, polling firm Focaldata conducted a survey of over 22,000 UK voters and analyzed the results using multilevel regression and post-stratification (MRP) models. The analysis projected that Johnson's Conservative Party would secure 284 seats, losing 81 seats from the current number. The main opposition party, the Labour Party, is expected to gain 82 seats, securing 282 seats in total.

Before Brexit was implemented, in December last year, the Conservative Party enjoyed overwhelming support, gaining 80 additional seats compared to their previous count. The Guardian explained, "The survey results show that if the general election were held tomorrow, neither the Conservative Party nor the Labour Party would secure a majority." It added, "This is the first public perception result regarding the Johnson government’s handling of Brexit negotiations and the pandemic amid growing concerns about a third national lockdown in the UK."

The UK experienced significant turmoil last year due to COVID-19 and Brexit. When COVID-19 struck Europe in March last year, Prime Minister Johnson initially downplayed the issue but later tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted to intensive care. Subsequently, he accepted stringent lockdown measures and focused on COVID-19 prevention efforts. However, by the end of last year, the emergence of a variant virus in the UK caused difficulties in containment, leading to flight suspensions from the UK to various parts of the world.

Additionally, the future relationship negotiations with the EU following Brexit on January 31 last year faced multiple difficulties. Although an agreement was finally reached on December 24, after about nine months of repeated clashes between both sides, UK and EU citizens inevitably experienced significant confusion.

Meanwhile, the UK's daily new COVID-19 cases reached the highest since the outbreak in March last year. The UK government announced that on this day, there were 57,725 new COVID-19 cases and 445 deaths. The UK's cumulative confirmed cases stand at 2,599,789, and cumulative deaths at 74,570, ranking sixth worldwide in both confirmed cases and deaths.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.