Dropping UK PhD - is it worth switching to MPhil?
This might not be the most popular of answers and it might not be the answer you're looking for, but it's what I would sincerely advise a friend facing similar problems.

You say you have limited work experience, so I'm guessing that you are pretty young. In that case, look at what you've put into the PhD:


You spent two of the best years of your life on this (around ages 20-30 is one's intellectual and physical peak).
You also spent tens of thousands of GBP on this. Maybe it didn't come out of your pocket, but there was certainly an opportunity cost from not taking a better-paying job using your MS degree. Quantified, this difference is likely in the tens of thousands (especially if accounting for loans / investments).


If you leave with nothing now, both the time and money you've invested go to waste. You will forever be someone who dropped out of a PhD program, presumably because you weren't good enough (these first impressions apply even if you can justifiably claim to have learned a lot from the PhD). However if you leave with an MPhil, you have something tangible to point to. You have your university's brand name behind the skills you claim to have, and you get to avoid questions such as "Is it possible to make leaving a PhD look good on a CV / Resume?".

It's true that MPhil from my cursory searching is not the most empowering of degrees - for example reed.co.uk lists 200,000 jobs, but only returns 4 results for "MPhil" - but it is better than nothing.

I would strongly incline towards getting the MPhil. DPhil would be even better. "I need a PhD because it helps me find a better job afterwards" may never impress a graduate admissions committee, but if it motivates you to finish the DPhil, it's good enough.