Alert – Cost-of-living crunch forces half of Brits to downgrade or cancel winter holiday plans

The cost-of living crisis has forced around half of Brits to downgrade or cancel their holiday plans for this winter.

An exclusive poll for found 44 per cent are not planning on going away over the next three months – with nearly half of those blaming the squeeze.

Among those who are still taking a break 59 per cent said they had altered their arrangements as a result of the economic situation, according to the Redfield & Wilton Strategies research.

The grim picture underlines the ongoing pain being felt by ordinary Brits amid soaring inflation and rising taxes. 

Covid, the Ukraine war and now the Israel crisis have all contributed to the misery, with the government scrambling to raise money to stabilise the public finances.

The poll, carried out on Thursday, asked people whether they were intending to go on holiday during the rest of the year.

Some 25 per cent said they were planning to go abroad, while 23 per cent were proposing a break in the UK – and a lucky 9 per cent were mooting both.

However, 44 per cent insisted they had no prospect of going away.

Of those who were not taking a break, 47 per cent said they would have done so barring the impact of the cost of living crisis.

And among the group who are still intending to travel 59 per cent said the squeeze had affected their plans.

The government’s OBR watchdog has warned that Brits are enduring one of the worst slides in living standards in decades, as incomes are eroded by spiking prices.

Recent figures showed that average increases in regular wages have just nudged above the level of inflation, for the first time in nearly two years. 

Rishi Sunak has been facing calls from Tories to cut taxes to ease the pressure, with the clamour redoubling in the wake of the double by-election defeat last week.

However, Mr Sunak, who was touring the Middle East as the by-election fallout erupted, has vowed to bring down inflation and get the UK’s post-Covid debt burden under control first.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has again rejected calls for significant cuts at the Autumn Statement next month, despite figures on Friday revealing that public sector borrowing was lower than expected in September – and is now £20billion below the OBR’s previous forecast.

However, there have been rumblings about the threshold for paying the 40 per cent higher rate of income tax being pushed up in the Spring Budget.

:: Redfield & Wilton Strategies surveyed 1,500 eligible voters on October 19. The results have been weighted to represent the wider population