Millions of Brits ‘looking to tighten their belts’

Millions of people around the UK are aiming to tighten their belts in response to the financial turbulence and gloomy economic forecasts of recent weeks, it has been suggested.

According to a poll by Fool.co.uk, almost two-thirds of consumers across the country are planning to cut back on the number of takeaway meals they eat and the same proportion is limiting their shopping sprees to save money.

Furthermore, with millions people trying to become debt free, more than one in ten Britons are planning to quit smoking in an effort to improve the state of their personal finances.

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going, and it’s reassuring to see that most of us are going to great lengths to cut non-essential spending from our budgets,” said David Kuo, head of personal finance at Fool.co.uk.

The credit reference agency Callcredit said recently that the problems in the banking sector around the world should act as a “wake up call” for individual consumers in the UK.