The findings, based on a poll of 1,670 British adults on 8th and 9th December, found 85% felt the economy was doing badly and 78% felt the government was doing a bad job in handling the cost-of-living crisis.

Three-quarters of respondents were also worried people would directly suffer over the next two to three years from cuts in public sector spending.

A majority of both Conservative ( 78%) and Labour ( 93%) voters felt the economy was either fairly bad or very bad, according to YouGov, with 58% of Conservative voters also expecting the economic situation to worsen.

However, there was a fall between September and December in people saying they expected their household’s financial situation to worsen, with 57% agreeing compared with 65% in September.

Despite this fall, 64% said their finances had worsened over the previous year and few expected a rise in their standard of living in the year ahead and one in five respondents believing their household would be a lot worse off.

The survey also found that 43% were worried about losing their job or struggling to find work, and 70% of those with incomes of £20,000 a year or less having had to make cuts to spending.

Among all Britons, 43% were struggling with energy bills and 43% with food, wile 37% were worried about affording fuel for their vehicle.

Almost half of Britons ( 49%) in low-income households are either struggling to make ends meet ( 35%) or cannot afford their essential costs and are going without food and heating ( 14%).