George Osborne is cutting wrong services, say voters

Home Secretary Theresa May is holding out against cuts in policing after warnings from police chiefs in London and elsewhere that counterterrorism work would be damaged by reductions in officer numbers.

Asked to list their preferred targets for the axe, 59 per cent of people polled chose overseas aid, a rise from 55 per cent in 2013.

Some 36 per cent picked benefits payments, down from 44. Defence spending was targeted by 19 per cent, down from 28.

Asked which areas should be spared from cuts, the NHS, schools and elderly care were clear favourites. Only two per cent wanted to protect aid money, compared with 73 per cent for health care.

Since March, the proportion who think the Government’s policies will improve the economy has dipped from 53 per cent to 48.

Gideon Skinner, head of political research at Ipsos MORI, said anxiety is growing. “The Conservatives still command the political landscape, but they have a trickier run-up to the Spending Review than for the summer’s Budget, with growing public anxiety about the impact of their decisions on public services,” he said.

The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement will also unveil new economic forecasts, but Ipsos MORI revealed that the public is already more pessimistic. Britons think the economy will get worse rather than better over the next year by a divide of 40-31, compared with 38-32 a month ago.

Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn is the only major party leader not to suffer a fall in his ratings since October, the poll found. All four leaders, however, have negative ratings overall.

If there was an election tomorrow, some 41 per cent of those who thought they would vote backed the Conservatives, with 34 per cent for Labour.