Britons have the second lowest quality of life in Europe, brought about by high fuel prices, rising energy bills, long working hours and also a lack of sunshine!

A survey by uSwitch looked at 19 financial and lifestyle factors in ten countries and found that Britain came ninth out of ten countries examined, beaten even by Poland. Eire came in at tenth.

We pay six per cent more than the average for petrol, 49 per cent more for gas and five per cent more for electricity. We have just 28 days' holiday a year (compared to 40 in France), retire later and die earlier than average.

And public spending on health and education are all well below average.
And even this country's climate goes against us, with seven of the countries of Europe faring better.

Add on to this the British misery of sky-high council tax bills, the most watched camera "spies" in the world, spiralling car parking charges coupled with the ever-increasing army of enforcers, an appalling road network and transport, and the massive amount of money spent on defence because we insist on being a world policeman, and it all paints a pretty gloomy picture of Britain.

It's no wonder that our opinion of the government is at an all-time low and an increasing number of Brits are packing their bags for a new life abroad.

Top of the league table is Spain, where council tax and the cost of living is much lower than the UK.

Second is France, also wooing more and more Brits to live there, and third is Germany.

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