British Vote Expected to Drub Thatcher

Britons voting in nationwide elections today were expected to hand Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher the worst electoral drubbing of her 11 years in power and register strong opposition to her economic policies, including a poll tax that has set off rioting.

Officials reported a brisk turnout during the daylong balloting in brilliant sunshine across most of the country.

In Britain, votes are counted by hand and most results were to be declared in the early hours Friday, several hours after the polls close.

The ballot for 201 local councils was the Conservative Party prime minister’s biggest electoral test since her popularity began dropping a year ago to a now record low due in part to higher interest rates and inflation.

The opposition socialist Labor Party held a huge lead of more than 20 points, recent opinion polls indicated.

Today’s polling is the first time the Conservatives have faced voters since the imposition April 1 of the so-called poll tax, an unpopular per-capita assessment by local governments that replaced a property-based levy.

At stake are about 5,000 seats on local councils ranging from big regional cities to English country districts.

A rout would increase speculation that the party may try to dump Thatcher this autumn, the last realistic chance before the next general election in 1991 or 1992.

“In midterm, the government aims to hold what it has. This we shall do,” Conservative Party Chairman Kenneth Baker said Wednesday night.

But computer forecasts based on opinion polls showed the Conservatives on course to lose up to 350 seats--about one-fourth of the seats they are defending. As the bad news piled up, Thatcher aides hinted this week that the poll tax may be amended.

Critics call the tax inherently unfair because the country’s richest man pays the same as his gardener.

Under the old local tax system, only the country’s 17 million homeowners paid a property tax. The new tax is levied against every adult.