Terror attacks in neighbouring countries mean that the British public would like to see the UK’s defence budget boosted.

There has been a huge leap in the number of people who see organised terrorist attacks on the UK as the biggest threat to the country, according to research from PwC.

The consultancy’s annual Forces for Change report on how the public perceives the military found the 44pc of those questioned cited “organised terrorism at home” as the main threat to the UK - a 13pc percentage point rise on last’s year’s survey.

Seen as the second biggest threat was “conflict with non state organisations abroad” at 21pc, followed by “lone wolf attacks at home by individuals” 8pc, then “cyber attack” at 8pc, “biological or chemical warfare” at 4pc, followed by “nuclear attack” and “conventional warfare” each at 2pc.