london jan 10 reuters  british consumer spending in december lagged inflation representing a sizeable fall in realterms expenditure despite contributions from christmas shopping and the mens soccer world cup surveys showed on tuesday barclays said spending on its credit and debit cards rose 44 in december compared with a year ago a long way behind consumer price inflation which stood at 107 in november the comparison with last year was also flattered by the fact people in december 2021 cut back on social engagements as the omicron variant of the coronavirus spread separately the british retail consortium said spending in store chains rose by 69 in annual terms in december  also representing a decline when adjusted for inflation the surveys were in line with forecasts by most analysts that britains economy is now in a recession and could stay there for some time pubs bars and clubs benefited from christmas parties and football fans watching the world cup said esme harwood a director at barclays however its worth noting that these figures look more positive in comparison to december 2021 as the spread of omicron kept brits away from high streets and hospitality venues separately on tuesday a report from imrg an ecommerce trade body showed december online sales fell 12 yearonyear with performance for the week commencing dec 18 particularly hit by delivery disruption caused by postal workers strikes for 2022 as a whole uk online retail sales fell 105 yearonyear  the first ever year of negative growth imrg said the conversion rate or the percentage of site visitors who complete a purchase was at times in 2022 20 lower than at the same times in 2021 the postal strikes hampered online retail due to fears of missing prechristmas delivery dates while rising living costs caused more brits to cancel their subscription services harwood said the latest reuters poll of economists points to a 09 contraction for britains economy in 2023 reporting by andy bruce and james davey editing by william schomberg