Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has warned that further public spending cuts would "make a weak economic situation weaker."

The EY Item Club has said that Mr Osborne should "hold fire" on further cuts while the economy lags.

The forecast for economic growth in the UK is expected to be downgraded to close to 2% during Wednesday's budget presentation.

The Chancellor has said that he plans to cut the equivalent of 50p per £100 in public spending by 2020.

"You could argue the low-hanging fruit - the easy cuts - have already been made and cutting further is actually going to be pretty tricky," Martin Beck, senior adviser to the EY Item Club told the BBC.

"That's what's caused us to think maybe the chancellor should be careful here and not potentially make a weak economic situation weaker," he added, arguing that the government in London should introduce stimulus measures.

The IMF also suggested at last month's G20 meeting in Shanghai that the UK should roll back austerity, and increase public spending on infrastructure to generate economic activity.