Britons are braced to be worse off as a result of Rachel Reeves’s Budget and oppose scrapping the two-child benefit cap. Nearly seven out of 10 (68%) expect to be poorer following Wednesday’s Budget, which is widely expected to hike taxes.

There is strong speculation that the Chancellor will dismantle the two-child benefit cap, but this is opposed by 61% of the public, including 53% of people who voted Labour last year. Just a third of Labour voters (33%) want the cap lifted so “bigger families can claim benefits for all their children”. Reform UK voters are the most likely to support limiting child-related benefits to two children (85%), and there is also major support for keeping the cap among those who backed the Conservatives (82%) and Liberal Democrats (58%).

There is a strong belief that the country is living beyond its means, with 62% of people saying the Government spends more than it can afford and just 24% saying it does not “tax enough for all the things it needs to do”.

Voters are split on the impact the Chancellor’s resignation would have on investment, with one in five saying it would increase confidence and 21% saying it would damage it – with the rest unsure or thinking it would make no difference.

More than six out of 10 (63%) of voters think the country will be worse off as a whole as a result of Ms Reeves’s long-awaited Budget, with a mere one in 10 expecting to be better off.

Reform UK voters are the most pessimistic, with 89% anticipating it will be bad for Britain.

However, the polling commissioned by Lord Ashcroft, a retired Conservative peer, contains a crumb of comfort for the Prime Minister.

When people were asked who would make the best prime minister – given the choice of Sir Keir Starmer, the Tories’ Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK’s Nigel Farage – the Labour leader was the most popular. He was the choice of just under one in three voters (32%), ahead of Mr Farage (24%) and Mrs Badenoch (12%).

But when asked who they thought was most likely to be prime minister after the next election, the Reform UK leader was in top place (30%), far ahead of Sir Keir (9%) and Mrs Badenoch (5%) – with 26% saying “someone else”.

A key challenge for Reform is broadening its support. When people were asked if they would rather see a Labour Government with Sir Keir as Prime Minister or a Reform UK administration with Mr Farage in No 10, 56% opted for the former with 44% choosing the latter option.

Nearly three quarters of people who voted Conservative at the last election (73%) would rather see Mr Farage as PM than Sir Keir. But 81% of those who backed the Liberal Democrats would prefer to see Sir Keir stay in power. This will fuel hopes in Labour circles that Left-leaning voters will engage in tactical voting to stop Reform UK taking power.