More than half of Britons think PM Brown "damaging"

LONDON (Reuters) - A little over half of Britons think Prime Minister Gordon Brown is damaging the country by staying in power, according to a survey published on Sunday.

In the YouGov poll for the Sunday Times newspaper, 51 percent of 1,900 people sampled said they agreed with the statement: "Gordon Brown's continued presence as prime minister is damaging the country."

Twenty-seven percent said they disagreed.

The poll, conducted on Thursday and Friday, came after European and local elections at which Brown's Labour party, in power for 12 years, suffered substantial setbacks.

It also follows a parliamentary expenses scandal that has affected all parties but damaged the incumbents more, provoking popular anger.

In terms of party support, 40 percent of those polled favoured the opposition Conservatives, against 24 percent for Labour. The gap of 16 points remains the same from the last poll, but both parties have lost support since last month, when the Conservatives stood at 43 percent and Labour 27 percent.

The difference has not been allocated to the third party, the Liberal Democrats, but to smaller parties, such as the Greens, the British National Party and the UK Independence Party, which opposes membership of the European Union.

Support for smaller parties rose to 18 percent from 12 percent, the poll showed.

The YouGov survey also showed increasing support for an early election, although that prospect looks less likely now that Brown has fought off a challenge to his authority and reshuffled his cabinet. The next election does not have to be held until June 2010.