Britain's ruling Labour Party begins its annual conference yesterday amid mounting pressure on its current leader Gordon Brown to stand down.

The four-day conference draws members and delegates from the party amid hopes that the gathering would bring more than 15 million pounds (27 million U.S. dollars) into the region.

However, just over one year into his present position as prime minister and Labour leader, Brown will face great pressure at the conference in this northwestern English city.

With the inflation rate standing at 4.4 percent, which has long overshot the 2.0-percent target set by the government, and thousands of jobs to be lost from the City of London financial district in the wake of the global credit crunch, the British economy is running into a recession "that could be the worst in 60years," according to Alistair Darling, chancellor of Exchequer.

What is more, housing prices have witnessed the sharpest drop since records started in 1983, falling by 12 percent in the last 12 months. The pound sterling, which had been firm in the past years, is also beginning to falter against the U.S. dollar.

Brown's lack of clarity in his policies has led to a steady decline in voter support -- Labour now lags behind the main opposition Conservatives by about 20 percentage points in opinion polls.

A latest poll for the Independent newspaper pointed an even more dismal picture for Labour. A total of 54 percent of party members did not want Brown to lead them into the next general election and some 57 percent said there should be a vote at the Labour conference on whether Brown should face a leadership election.

About 45 percent of those polled believed that changing the party's leader before the next election would improve Labour's prospects of victory, as against 28 percent who thought the opposite.

The survey also found that Brown's personal support rating was also lower than almost every other member of his cabinet.

Against such a backdrop of extremely harsh economic difficulties and political mistrust, a "coup" has been brewing with a dozen Labour members of parliament calling for nomination forms last week for a leadership challenge.

Brown, however, dismissed the noises from within the party, saying: "I'm not going to be diverted by a few people making complaints. That is the stuff of politics. I get on with the business of government."

He insisted that the economic downturn that Britain is experiencing is not something unique to the country, but an echo from the global financial uncertainty.

Britain faced "the first great financial crisis" of the "global age," Brown said, insisting that he was the best in leading the country in such times of difficulty.

In an unprecedented gesture, senior members of the government also urged the country to rally behind Brown.

Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has publicly said Brown was "the best man for that job" at a time of global crisis, warning that "disunity kills political parties."

Harriet Harman, deputy leader of Labour, also reassured the public: "I don't think there is going to be a leadership election. I don't think there should be a leadership election."

Observers believe that there is a general feeling among the government that a leadership change at this stage would only play into the hands of the Conservatives, helping them win the next general election.

"As members of the Labour family meet this week, we know that these are difficult times for people. There are real global economic problems, but with Gordon Brown steering the country and Labour's values and policies of fairness we can win the fight for Britain's future," said Hazel Blears, secretary of state for communities and local government, ahead of the Labour Party Conference.