During last year’s Christmas period, Britons spent £28.5 billion – 8.9 per cent more than they had done a year before.

Plastic cards were the most popular method of making payments, with 61.4 per cent of all retail spending in Britain in December made on them. This represented a two per cent increase on the previous year.

Credit card spending also rose slightly by 0.9 per cent, according to figures from the UK Payments Association, Apacs.

“We spent a record amount this December on our plastic cards and we are seeing an ongoing trend of paying by debit rather than credit cards – perhaps reflecting that we’ve become a nation who wants to keep a tighter rein on our finances,” said Sandra Quinn, director of communications at Apacs.

However, she added that credit card spending and repayments are continuing to rise.

The Apacs spokeswoman put this down to the fact that consumers “enjoy the flexibility” provided by credit cards.

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