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Public backing for Chancellor George Osborne’s spending cuts appears to have stalled amid rising concern about their impact on public services, an exclusive poll reveals today.

Nearly six in 10 say the Government is picking the wrong targets for cuts — a big rise from fewer than four in 10 five years ago, Ipsos MORI found.

Some 67 per cent do not believe the measures will improve public services, which is up from 60 per cent in March and the highest level since 2001.

Only a minority of 34 per cent think further spending cuts are needed to reduce the deficit. However, 59 per cent think either that cuts were not needed in the first place, or that they were necessary during the last Parliament, but not now.

The exclusive research for the Evening Standard comes a week before the Chancellor delivers his new Spending Review in the Commons.

Spending on foreign aid should be slashed if cuts are needed, says the public, in defiance of Prime Minister David Cameron’s pledge to protect the rising £12 billion budget. Almost six in 10 say overseas development should be Mr Osborne’s top target, with welfare and defence next in line.

The Chancellor has reached agreements with seven government departments for cuts of 24 per cent on average to be confirmed in the Spending Review on Wednesday.

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.