Internet usage on the rise in the UK

Internet take-up in the UK rose from 29 per cent to 36 per cent in the nine months up to December, with London and the South East setting the pace.

According to a Mori survey conducted for the Nationwide Building Society, the number of people with access to the internet in the region rose from 34 per cent to 45 per cent between February and December last year.

The survey, which had 2061 participants, showed that the number of people in the Midlands logging on to the net for the first time jumped from 27 to 36 per cent in the same period.

Lagging behind is the North. The region saw an increase of only five per cent, from 28 to 33. Trailing in last place are Wales and the South West, where internet access rose from 26 to 29 per cent.

Peter Bradshaw, head of internet banking at Merrill Lynch, said the figures "go along the lines of relative wealth", but he expects differences to be ironed out.

"Having online access is still at the margin of spare money," he said, "but in the future it will be an integral part of day-to-day life. We will catch up with the US and get 50 per cent penetration."

The survey showed that the intensity of online banking follows a similar geographical divide, but the contrast is less startling. Throughout the country, the percentage of current account holders doing at least some of their banking on the internet has risen overall from 5 to 9 per cent - this translates as approximately 3.5 million of Britain's current account holders deal with their bank this way.

However, only 10 per cent of internet bankers carry out their banking exclusively online: 78 per cent use the phone and 79 per cent also use a bank or building society branch.

In London and the South East, about 11 percent of the region's 10.6 million current account holders do at least some of their banking online - up from 7 per cent in February. In Wales and the South West, the figures are up from 3 per cent to 8 per cent of the region's 5.3 million current account holders.

Jim Willens, Nationwide's ecommerce director, said: "Few people want to deal exclusively online. All but a minority want the option of picking up the phone or popping into a branch whenever they wish."