The total value of food sales went up 4.3 per cent on a year earlier between January and March, while like-for-like food sales jumped 2.5 per cent.

Food sales growth picked up strongly towards the end of the month, helped by Good Friday and Easter Saturday falling in the March trading period this year, but in April last year.

The latest findings from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG revealed the total value of sales surged by 6.6 per cent in March - the strongest growth since April 2006 - while growth hit 4.4 per cent on a like-for-like basis.

Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC, said: “Food sales received a big boost from Easter falling a week earlier than last year, with the first half of the Bank Holiday weekend reflected in these March results.

“In food and drink, this was the most intense March for eight years for promotional activity.”

But the BRC cautioned that the sales rise was only half as good with the effect of Easter stripped out, implying underlying sales growth of around two per cent, as "pre-election uncertainty" continued to hamper spending.

Joanne Denney-Finch, chief executive of IGD, said: “Shoppers gave food retailers an Easter boost as they pushed the boat out in spite of - or, perhaps, because of - continuing economic and political uncertainty in March.”

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