Chancellor George Osborne will declare today that the UK's best days are yet to come, in a direct challenge to those who doubt his economic plans.

He will tell an audience in Washington DC that the "optimists" would defeat those who predict growth will stagnate.

His comments come as polls suggest that more than eight in 10 people agree with Labour that the UK is suffering a cost of living crisis.

Earlier this week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast the UK would be the fastest growing country among the G7 nations this year.

But polls suggest that most people have yet to feel any benefit from the recovery.

In total 82% said that they agreed with Labour leader Ed Miliband that the UK was suffering a crisis in the cost of living.

In a speech to the American Enterprise Institute, Mr Osborne will say that the "pessimists are on the march again with their predictions of stagnation. We, the optimists, can prove them wrong again. Our nations' best days lie ahead."

He will also attack those who claim that economic growth can only be sustained through further fiscal stimulus, such as the printing of money through "quantitate easing", and higher government debt.

Mr Osborne will say that as long as banks have enough cash and the country sorts out its finances those predictions will not materialise.

"We have those conditions in place, and our economy has grown faster than any other in the G7 over the last year and is now forecast by the IMF to do the same in 2014. Instead of more debt or more government spending we need to get our public finances in order, make structural reforms and compete in the world again."

Meanwhile, the IMF urged nations around the world to move ahead more quickly on policies needed to secure a stronger recovery and avoid a prolonged global slump.

In a "Global Policy Agenda" for the world's economies, the IMF outlined a long list of tasks that remain incomplete, from reining in shadow banking risks in China to speeding up financial reforms.