Most Britons describe themselves as 'middle class' - Telegraph.co.uk

The research helps to pin-point the major political battleground of the next four years, with middle-class people most likely to vote.

Two of the middle-class tribes identified in the survey are solidly Conservative, while another is strongly Labour. The remaining three groups – the Comfortable Greens, Urban Networkers and Bargain Hunters – are considered to make up the key electoral battleground.

The survey suggested that 23 per cent of people think that the most important factor defining a person's class is "level of education", 21 per cent their parents, 20 per cent their job and 20 per cent their income.

The middle class defined by the commonly used ABC1 groups is much smaller at just over half of the population, with skilled manual workers, shop workers and unemployed people described as working class.