UK households cut spending at fastest pace in almost five years, says Barclays
UK households cut back on spending at the fastest pace in almost five years last month as consumers put Christmas shopping on hold, according to a leading survey,Adding to concerns that uncertainty surrounding the budget has helped dampen consumer confidence, Barclays said card spending fell 1,1% year on year in November – the largest fall since February 2021,The bank said retailers still enjoyed their busiest day of the year so far on Black Friday, with transaction volumes 62,5% higher than the average day for 2025.
However, the British Retail Consortium and the consultancy KPMG found that the usual Black Friday lift was much less significant this year caused by shoppers having “jitters”.Black Friday has become a key trading period for retailers, kicking off the Christmas shopping season and giving shops an early insight into their customers’ appetite for spending.The BRC said sales were moderately ahead of those last November, propped up by higher food spending.Food sales increased 3%, though this rise was below the average rate of inflation, at 3.6%.
Sales of other products increased by just 0.1% year on year – below the 12-month average of 1.6%, the BRC said.Opposition parties have blamed Rachel Reeves for harming consumer confidence with months of speculation before the budget on 26 November.The chancellor has since come under pressure to review changes to business rates, which medium-sized retailers and pub chains say will hit them especially hard.
Barclays said pub spending slowed by 1.5% in November, with 42% of those aged 18 to 34 opting for alcohol-free drinks and 40% for alcohol-free activities, according to its survey of 2,000 UK adults.The study showed that confidence in the economy remained “subdued” in November, while the confidence consumers had in their own finances improved marginally.A slowdown in economic growth, rising unemployment and the difficulties faced by high street retailers are expected to prompt the Bank of England to cut interest rates from 4% to 3.75% when its policy committee meets later this month.
Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionBarclays said there was better news in November’s figures for travel agents, who enjoyed a Black Friday boost, up 10,7%,Streaming services and subscriptions increased 3,5% thanks to hit shows such as Stranger Things and Pluribus,The BRC said homeware and upholstery sold well as households prepared to host friends and family over the festive season.
Fashion sales lagged behind as the mild first half of November dampened demand for winterwear.Jack Meaning, the chief UK economist at Barclays, said: “Even with a boost from Black Friday, consumer spending remained muted as we moved through the final quarter of the year.2025 has been defined by this economic deceleration.“The question remains as to whether easing interest rates and falling inflation can offset this trend and spur a rebound in consumer spending, or whether tightening fiscal policy and continued uncertainty will see the malaise continue in 2026.”The chief executive of the BRC, Helen Dickinson, said: “Pre-budget jitters among shoppers meant the month of Black Friday did not deliver as strongly as retailers had hoped or the economy needed.
“Looking ahead to 2026, it is time public policy started prioritising measures to revive consumer confidence and keep costs of doing business down so retailers can focus on growth strategies to maximise their contribution to economic recovery.” This article was amended on 9 December 2025.An earlier caption on the main image said it was Oxford Street in London instead of Regent Street.
Ofgem approves early investment in three UK electricity ‘superhighways’
Three major UK electricity “superhighways” could move ahead sooner than expected to help limit the amount that households pay for windfarms to turn off during periods of high power generation.Current grid bottlenecks mean there is not enough capacity to transport the abundance of electricity generated in periods of strong winds to areas where energy demand is highest.The new high-voltage cable projects linking windfarms in Scotland and off the North Sea coast to densely populated areas in the south of the country could start operations by the early 2030s rather than towards the end of the decade, according to the sector regulator.This should help to cut the rising cost of paying windfarms to turn off when they generate more electricity than the grid can transport. Without better interconnection these payments, which consumers cover via their energy bills, are expected to reach more than £12bn a year by the end of the decade
BoE predicts budget measures will lower inflation, and denies uncertainty caused unusual bond market volatility – as it happened
Senior members of the Bank of England are appearing before the Treasury committee now.MPs will hear from deputy governors Clare Lombardelli and Sir Dave Ramsden, as well as two external members of the Monetary Policy Committee – Swati Dhingra and Catherine Mann.The quartet are without governor Andrew Bailey, who isn’t available due to “an unavoidable international commitment”.They will discuss the Bank’s decision to maintain interest rates at 4% in November, and also its latest Monetary Policy Report.Time to recap
EU opens investigation into Google’s use of online content for AI models
The EU has opened an investigation to assess whether Google is breaching European competition rules in its use of online content from publishers and YouTube creators for artificial intelligence.The European Commission said on Tuesday it would examine whether the US tech company, which runs the Gemini AI model and is owned by Alphabet, was putting rival AI owners at a “disadvantage”.The commission said: “The investigation will notably examine whether Google is distorting competition by imposing unfair terms and conditions on publishers and content creators, or by granting itself privileged access to such content, thereby placing developers of rival AI models at a disadvantage.”It said it was concerned that Google may have used content from web publishers to generate AI-powered services on its search results pages without appropriate compensation to publishers and without offering them the possibility to refuse such use of their content.The commission said it was also concerned as to whether Google had used content uploaded to YouTube to train its own generative AI models without offering creators compensation or the possibility to refuse
Australia launches a social media ban – and is AI a bubble about to pop?
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, writing to you from a New York City that feels much colder than last December. 🥶In a world first, Australia implemented a ban on social media use for people under 16. It’s the first country to take such a far-reaching measure. Starting on 10 December, children and teens under 16 will not be allowed to use social media in Australia
England’s Ashes approach is scrambling the brains of the next cricketing generation | Mark Ramprakash
The cracks are starting to show with this England team and with the narrative we’ve been fed for three years after another defeat. Their identity of always taking the aggressive option, of relentlessly putting pressure on their opponents, isn’t holding up to scrutiny. So far in this series they haven’t had the strength needed to achieve it, and they haven’t had the skills either.I was confident that they could win the Ashes this time, mainly because I thought there was quality in the squad and that they had adapted their game to add intelligence and adaptability to their armoury. It’s becoming clear that neither of those beliefs were completely true
Claressa Shields to open $8m deal with Detroit rematch against Crews-Dezurn
Claressa Shields will defend her undisputed heavyweight championship in Detroit on 22 February, returning home for a rematch with Franchon Crews-Dezurn in her first fight since signing a landmark $8m promotional deal. The bout will headline a Dazn card at Little Caesars Arena, the home of the NBA’s Pistons and NHL’s Red Wings where Shields attracted a near-sellout crowd for her most recent fight last July.Shields (17-0, 3 KO) and Crews-Dezurn (10-2, 2 KO) first met nearly a decade ago when they made their professional debuts against each other on the undercard of Andre Ward’s victory over Sergey Kovalev in 2016. Shields won a four-round unanimous decision that night in Las Vegas, a moment she still sees as formative. “I had just come off winning two Olympic gold medals, fresh out of the amateurs, and finding an opponent was tough,” she said in a press release announcing the fight
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