Consumer card spending growth has increased to 1% in May, the smallest rise since February 2021, Barclays has found.

The bank said that Brits have cut back on discretionary spending as a result of rising household bills and wet weather.

With certain essentials and household bills, such as council tax and broadband, increasing in April, the vast majority (87%) of consumers were worried about the impact of rising household bills.

However, this comes as the spend on utilities dropped by an average of 12.5%, as a result of the Ofgem price cap decrease.

Spending at supermarkets was at its lowest growth since June 2022, increasing by just 0.3%, as April saw food price inflation drop to its lowest annual rate (2.9%) since 2021.

This comes as retail spending dropped by 0.4% in May, the largest amount since September 2022, with in-store spending, excluding groceries, and clothing sales by 2.6% and 1% respectively.

However, alongside the drop in inflation, over a quarter (28%) of Brits have said they will spend more when the weather improves in the summer. This figure rose to 39% for those aged between 18 and 34.

Chief UK economist at Barclays, Jack Meaning, said: "The economic strength we saw in the first three months of the year was always expected to ease as we moved into the second quarter, with GDP having seen the extra bounce needed to recover the ground lost in last year’s recession.

"The underlying direction of travel remains though, with falling inflation, real income growth and low unemployment all pointing to a gradual acceleration in consumer spending over the next 12 months, especially as we begin to see the Bank of England reduce interest rates in H2."

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