British consumers cut back heavily on spending as they spent a second month in a Covid-19 lockdown in February but confidence in the economy hit a 12-month high, payment card firm Barclaycard said.

Consumer spending was 13.8 per cent lower than a year before, similar to January’s plunge of around 16pc, Barclaycard said.

Spending on essential items grew 5.3pc and online grocery shopping surged. But spending on non-essentials plummeted 22.1pc with many businesses still closed, Reuters reported.