Polls show Europe divided over Iraq

Only 3,000 Spaniards demonstrated against the war

New polls in Spain and Ireland show a large majority against a US-led attack on Iraq - in stark contrast to the latest survey of opinion in the UK.

In Spain 87% said they opposed Washington's stated intention to go to war with Iraq.

In Ireland the figure was 68%.

In the UK, however, just 44% disapproved of action against Iraq, a drop of two per cent in the last week.

The figures compare with a pan-European survey released four weeks ago, which found that 60% of Europeans would be in favour of military action if it had the backing of the United Nations.

Ireland

Ireland

68% - oppose military action

22% - support it

10% - no opinion

Source: The Irish Times/MRBI

The Irish poll found that 59% of respondents thought Ireland should vote in the UN Security Council against military action even if Iraq failed to comply with UN resolutions.

A "no" vote in the Security Council was supported by people from all political parties, all age groups and sectors of society, according to the poll by the Market Research Bureau of Ireland.

Only 22% of people questioned said they would support the military action against Iraq, though 29% wanted Ireland to vote in favour of war if Iraq defied the UN.

Britain

United Kingdom

44% - oppose military action

33% - support

24% - no opinion

Source: The Guardian/ICM

Support in Britain for the military action against Iraq has dropped, according to an ICM poll published in The Guardian.

The results of the poll, which was conducted last weekend as a massive anti-war march was taking place in London, indicate that only 33% support military action against Iraq, 4 points less than a week ago.

The two per cent fall in opposition to military action followed the release of Prime Minister Tony Blair's dossier of evidence against Iraq last week.

Spain

Spain

87.1% - oppose military action

9.3% - support

3.6% - no opinion or no answer

Source: Instituto Opina/El Pais

Despite the Spanish public's overwhelming opposition to military action, in the latest poll, 58.6% said they believed Saddam Hussein constituted a threat to world peace.

According to the research by the private Instituto Opina for the daily El Pais newspaper, 70.6% said any action against Iraq should be first approved by the United Nations.

The results were published on Monday, a day after 3,000 people marched through Madrid to protest against the US plans to attack Iraq.