Email scandal hits Brown poll ratings

LONDON (Reuters) - A scandal over scurrilous emails sent by a member of Gordon Brown's staff has damaged the prime minister's standing with voters, opinion polls showed at the weekend.

A series of surveys published in Sunday newspapers showed support for Brown's Labour Party fell in the week since one of his aides resigned after it emerged that he had sent emails containing slurs about political rivals.

Brown must call an election by mid-2010 and has been struggling to make headway against the opposition Conservatives' lead in opinion polls.

A Marketing Sciences poll in The Sunday Telegraph put Labour support at 26 percent, down five percentage points from three weeks ago, while the Conservatives were on 43 percent.

A second poll, by BPIX for The Mail on Sunday, also put Labour at 26 percent, but showed its Conservative rivals 19 points ahead on 45 percent.

A poll in The News of the World showed more than a third of voters trusted the government less after the email scandal.

The Ipsos Mori poll found 37 percent of those questioned now saw the Labour Party as less trustworthy.

Brown apologised last week for the emails sent by an influential aide, Damian McBride.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; editing by Andrew Dobbie)