Workers at the UK's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) now consider internet access to be as an important human right as freedom of speech, fair trials and equal opportunities, new research suggests.

According to Vodafone, 18 million workers in the UK now believe that they could not do their job without access to the internet.

The research also found that almost half the UK's workers think that the internet has influenced work existence to such an extent that the world would not be the same without it.

"Internet access is now such an important part of life that we regard it as a modern civil liberty, according to seven in ten of those polled," a Vodafone spokesperson explained.

"So essential is the freedom to surf the world wide web for our jobs and social lives that one in three people say they would be prepared to give up other human rights in order to stay online."

Recently, T-Mobile revealed that 15 per cent of office workers go to company toilets to access the internet on their mobile phone if they are not allowed to go online at work.