Household spending fell for the second month in a row during November, and at a faster rate than the month before, new data from Visa’s UK Consumer Spending Index reveals.

Expenditure has struggled to maintain growth momentum in 2018 to date, with spending falling in seven of the 11 months of the year so far, according to the data compiled by IHS Markit.

However, while half of the eight broad monitored sectors noted lower expenditure, spending on food, drink and tobacco grew by 1.7%, up on last year’s growth of 0.3%.

Food and drink retailers are in fact enjoying “the best run of growth for around two-and-a-half years,” having risen in each of the past seven months, the report said.

The latest reduction in total household spending was predominantly driven by a further fall in face to-face expenditure.

Compared to the same month a year ago, face-to-face spending declined by 0.9% in November, following a 2.0% reduction in October.

Spending in this category has now fallen in seven of the 11 months of 2018 so far.

Expenditure through eCommerce rose slightly, up 0.4% year-on-year, although this was much slower than the 2.6% increase seen in October, which was in turn the quickest expansion seen since September 2017.