M&S to charge 5p for its plastic bags

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The retailer hopes the fee will cut demand for the bags, which campaigners say damage the environment.

The store said the money raised would be spent on parks and play areas across the country.

About 13billion plastic bags, which can take 1,000 years to decay, are given free to shoppers every year. The move comes a day after the Daily Mail launched a campaign to reduce the number of bags handed out.

A trial at 50 M&S stores in Northern Ireland and the South-West saw demand for the bags fall by more than 70 per cent. Chief executive Sir Stuart Rose said that if that figure was repeated across the country it would reduce the number of bags used by 280 million every year.

He said: "We want to make it easy for customers to do their bit to help the environment. On top of this, customers will be raising valuable funds to go to our partner charity, Groundwork, to invest in much- needed green spaces."

Groundwork chief executive Tony Hawkhead said: "We all want our neighbourhoods to be cleaner and greener. Our experience shows that when a major household name takes the initiative it can encourage millions of people to change their behaviour."

M&S plans to give food shoppers longlasting bags from early April for a month and to introduce the 5p fee on 6 May.