The £24 suit from M&S: New round of price cuts hits High Street

Marks & Spencer cut the price of selected men's suits to only £24 yesterday.

Giving notice of a summer price war, it also reduced some summer dresses to £9 and T-shirts to £2.

At the same time, the 'big four' supermarkets opened a new front in their battle to be the cheapest on the High Street.

Asda and Morrisons today announce promotions to bring down the price of many items to 50p, while Tesco and Sainsbury's have their own deals.

Fashion stores and supermarkets have announced a round of price cuts to try to head off a High Street recession.

The reductions are good for shoppers suffering the biggest squeeze on living standards since the 1970s, with food, fuel and energy costs rising and banks cutting access to credit.

Clothing and shoe retailers in particular are having a torrid time. Figures from the Office of National Statistics show this is one of very few sectors where prices are falling.

Marks & Spencer, which started its summer sale yesterday, is cutting 60 per cent or more off fashions to try to turn around a faltering sales performance that has triggered fears for profits.

Its stores are loaded with vast quantities of unsold summer stock which it is now trying to shift at the sort of prices normally seen in the clothes sections of supermarkets such as Asda and Tesco.

Its cheapest man's suit, which is produced in the Far East, is machine washable and is made from polyester, has been reduced from £49.50 to £24.

The price cut of 51.5 per cent makes it the cheapest suit the chain has ever sold.

Other bargains on the M&S rails include a cotton asymmetric blue print dress which has been cut from £19.50 to £9, a saving of 54 per cent. There is an identical saving on a pink sleeveless cheesecloth dress. A multi-stripe tankini top is down from £9.50 to £5, with the accompanying shorts down from £6 to £3.

In menswear, some M&S Blue Harbour T-shirts are down from £5 to £2 each, a saving of 60 per cent. Many other T-shirts are half price at £5 each.

M&S is not alone in feeling the pinch. Others facing tough times are John Lewis, House of Fraser, Debenhams and the major electrical chains.

The 'big four' supermarkets, meanwhile, are feeling the heat of competition from discount stores such as Aldi, Lidl and Netto.

Asda will drop the price of 12 core groceries to 50p for this weekend. The cost of a basket of the products  -  including iceberg lettuce, mushrooms, sausages, eggs and butter  -  will fall from £11.24 to £6.

Morrisons is cutting the price of eight lines to 50p for a week from Monday. These include ham, cheese and tomatoes.

Tesco promises hundreds of price cuts this weekend and into next week, and Sainsbury's has introduced a number of half-price deals and other reductions.