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A new poll has revealed that 60% of Britons believe the government is unable to deal with important domestic issues because it is focusing all its resources on securing a Brexit deal.

The survey by BMG Research for the Independent suggested a majority of people think “important domestic issues” are being ignored by ministers as they work towards a final divorce settlement between the UK and the European Union.

Among the key issues people view as being neglected are the NHS and the housing market.

Thousands of additional civil servants are being hired by the government in order to implement the expected Brexit deal. In October it emerged that 8,000 additional staff would be hired to cope with Britain’s impending departure from the world’s largest economic area. Some estimates suggest the annual wage bill for all new recruits related to Brexit – including several thousand HMRC staff – will exceed £400m.

As the challenging Brexit negotiations play out, polls suggest the Conservative Party is losing ground to the Labour Party, with Jeremy Corbyn's satisfaction ratings edging ahead of those of the Prime Minister, Theresa May.

In the BMG poll, most respondents agreed with the statement: “the Government has spent too much time focusing on Brexit and has forgotten about important domestic issues”.

60 per cent supported the statement; 41 per cent agreed "somewhat", while 19 per cent "strongly agreed".

15 per cent disagreed with the statement – 13 per cent "somewhat" and 3 per cent "strongly".

20 per cent neither agreed nor disagreed, while 7 per cent did not know.

With a withdrawal deal agreed in principle, the Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) is keen to move on to the next phase of negotiations, namely a trade deal between the UK and the EU.

Business leaders have urged the government to work out a transitional deal quickly, helping enable companies to make decisions on increasing production capacity and staff for the coming years. Uncertainty over the future economic relationship with the EU has prompted many firms to put investment decisions on hold.

Import/export tariffs are of particular concern to UK businesses. In 2016, 43 per cent of UK exports in goods and services went to other EU nations, while 54 per cent of goods and services imported to the UK came from other EU states.