Britons are continuing to brave icy blasts and treacherous road conditions as the country remains in the grip of a cold snap.

With temperatures already as cold as the South Pole, forecasters are warning there is more to come.

On the coldest night for 14 years the mercury dropped to -22C (-7.6F) in the Scottish Highlands, with well below freezing temperatures elsewhere in the UK.

Sky weather presenter Francis Wilson warns tonight will be "exceptionally cold", -10C in some parts of the country.

"Late Saturday and Sunday there'll be some significant and possibly heavy falls of snow over the southern half of Britain and eventually Ireland too."

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The deep freeze left roads and pavements covered in sheet ice, making driving and conditions for pedestrians extremely dangerous.

Sky correspondent Michelle May in Woodford, Cheshire, said the roads were "extremely difficult".

"The roads are clear but really icy, and they've been like this for at least a week," she said.

Satellite image of snow over the UK, Pic: NASA/GSFC, MODIS Rapid Response

Councils have been ordered to cut the amount of grit they use by 25% until Tuesday as temperatures are set to plunge again tonight.

Many councils had already restricted their gritting to major roads as they try to prolong their dwindling stocks.

The weather dominated today's Cabinet meeting.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said the situation was "as good as it could be at this stage" and said gritters had stopped treating motorway hard shoulders in an effort to save reserves.

The Government has set up 'Salt Cell', an emergency body responsible for deciding who gets salt stocks, but Environment Secretary Hilary Benn admitted supplies were low.

He said: "We may face some difficult decisions about which roads are going to continue to be salted, because it looks as if the cold weather is going to last for quite some time yet."

There was better news on energy reserves as the National Grid lifted its Gas Balancing Alert.

It expects UK demand to hit a record high today but says supplies have been "consistently healthy" this week.

Overnight, temperatures in Manchester fell to -15C (5F), with Glasgow reaching -8C (18F), Cardiff -5C (23F) and London hovering just below zero (32F).

The lowest temperature in the Scottish Highlands came close to the -22.9C (-9.2F) currently at the southernmost part of the globe.

The record low for Britain of -27.2C (-16.9F) was recorded in Braemar in Scotland on January 10, 1982.

Conditions have been so poor in places that some villages have been cut off, including Princetown in Dartmouth.

Sky correspondent Katie Stallard, reporting from inside the village, said an air ambulance had landed in a garden to rescue an ill resident.

She said: "This is what it means to be stranded. Medical help is a long way away, and the firefighters in this case have been the first responders."