- LONDON (Reuters) - Britain
is heading for a virtual one-party state under Prime Minister Tony Blair
in next month's general election, according to an opinion poll published
on Wednesday.
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- The Gallup survey carried by the top-selling Sun tabloid
suggested Blair's Labour Party would romp home on June 7, nearly doubling
its majority to 335 in the 659-member House of Commons and slashing the
opposition Conservative presence by half to as few as 82 seats.
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- The poll was published just hours after the Conservatives
wheeled out ``Iron Lady'' Margaret Thatcher and went on the offensive over
Europe and the euro in a bid to revive their flagging fortunes.
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- An ICM poll for the Guardian was a little kinder to Conservative
leader William Hague, putting him 13 points behind Labour. It would still
give Blair a majority of about 145.
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- Most opinion polls have suggested a Labour lead of around
20 points but the Gallup survey stretched that to 30. It put Labour on
55 percent, the Conservatives on 25 percent and the Liberal democrats on
14 percent.
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- The Sun expressed concern at the prospect of no effective
opposition in the new parliament, even though it has already announced
it is backing Blair's re-election for a second term.
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- ``It is not good for democracy that one party should
have complete domination over parliament... We believe the country is best
served if there isn't a total (Conservative) wipe out on June 7,'' the
tabloid said in an editorial.
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- THATCHER ENTERS ELECTION FRAY
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- Thatcher rose from the political grave on Tuesday to
slam Blair's Europe policy as a national betrayal.
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- Blair quickly returned fire, saying her time had gone.
There were also leaked reports that Blair was about to launch a major counter-offensive
over Europe and the euro.
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- In a return to the limelight which Thatcher herself billed
as ''The Mummy Returns,'' the woman who led the Conservatives to three
successive terms in power accused Blair of planning to drag Britons into
the euro and surrender Britain's independence to a federal Europe.
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- ``To surrender the pound, to surrender our power of self-government,
would betray all that past generations down the ages lived and died to
defend,'' she said in a speech in the southwest English coastal town of
Plymouth.
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- Blair, who swept to power by a landslide in 1997, favors
taking Britain into the euro when economic conditions are right and subject
to approval in a referendum. Hague has ruled out membership for at least
five years.
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- Thatcher, who dominated British politics in the 1980s,
went beyond Hague's stated policy on the euro, saying Britain should rule
out adopting the currency forever.
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- Blair's counter-attack on Europe and the euro later this
week would be based on the line that true patriotism lay in Britain being
fully engaged in Europe, according to leaked newspaper previews of the
speech.
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- They said Blair's comments were being seen by his advisers
as paving the way for a referendum late next year on joining the European
single currency.
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- He would argue that Britain could no longer tackle global
problems alone and must join other countries to meet military, environmental
and economic challenges.
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- Blair would stick to his position on joining the euro.
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- ``But the subtext will be clear: joining the euro is
the patriotic thing to do if conditions are right,'' the Financial Times
said.
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- The Guardian said Labour was pressing French Prime Minister
Lionel Jospin to delay or tone down a planned speech on Europe's future,
fearing it could blow up as an election issue.
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- Strategists in Blair's campaign team were concerned the
speech would be reported as being part of a Franco-German drive to further
European integration, the Guardian said.
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