Political poll for the Independent

Seven out of 10 people fear that Britain’s involvement in military action in Libya could turn into another Iraq conflict, according to a ComRes survey for The Independent.

Although David Cameron has insisted that Libya is “not another Iraq,” 71 per cent of people say they are concerned that the action in Libya could result in Britain being dragged into a prolonged conflict like the Iraq war. Some 24 per cent are not worried that it will do so.

By a margin of 47 to 43 per cent, people do not believe the Government was right to commit British forces to action in Libya.  But 46 per cent think the operation would be justified in targeting Colonel Gaddafi himself, while 40 per cent do not.  Some 68 per cent agree that the decision to commit forces to action in Libya shows that Britain should not be planning to cut spending on defence, while 25 per cent disagree.

According to ComRes, Labour (41 per cent) has a six-point lead over the Conservatives (35 per cent), with the Liberal Democrats on 13 per cent and other parties on 11 per cent.  The latest ComRes poll for The Independent on Sunday two weeks ago gave Labour a three-point lead. Since then, Labour is up one point, the Tories are down two points, the Liberal Democrats up two points and others down one point.

ComRes telephoned a random sample of 1,000 GB adults between March 25-27, 2011. Data were weighted to be representative of all adults and by past vote recall. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.