More than 80,000 people in Devon are unable to afford essential costs, Citizens Advice has found.

New research published this week by Citizens Advice in Devon shows that 80,000 people living in the county have more money going out than coming in every month.

The charity alerted to the “worrying trend” of negative budgets, where people’s expenditure on basic bills such as energy, housing and food exceeds their income, saying it has become “a growing problem in the county”.

It said falling living standards were pushing people’s finances to the brink. According to the research, energy and housing were “the key costs swallowing up people’s income”, pushing many into the red and potentially into a spiral of debt.

In South Devon, 5,850 people have a negative budget, showing that their outgoings exceed their income by more than 6.4 per cent.

Citizens Advice also found that more than 54 per cent of people polled in South Devon said that the cost of living was one of the most important issues in determining how they will vote in the forthcoming election.

In addition, more than 78 per cent said that negative budgets were an important issue.

The research also found that more than half of voters in all Devon, including Plymouth and Torbay constituencies, said the cost of living was one of the most important issues in determining how they will vote on July 4, while more than three-quarters said that negative budgets were an important issue.

Citizens Advice Devon’s Chair, Edwina Bradshaw, said: “What was once a rarity for Citizens Advice services in Devon - seeing people come to us in a negative budget - has sadly now become the new normal for our advisers.

“Getting people out of the red and into the black is what we excel in. But we can’t tackle a challenge of this scale alone. People are living on empty, cutting back their spending to unsafe levels just to get by. This cannot continue.

“With living standards falling, we need politicians from all sides in Devon to get serious about addressing the issue head on.”