FEWER people in Yorkshire will go into debt to pay for Christmas this year than across the UK as a whole, new figures show.

A fifth of adults expect to have to borrow to pay for seasonal treats while nationally one in four will go into debt, according to research by R3, the insolvency trade body.

It says that 11 per cent would be likely to skip other spending commitments, such as mortgage payments, while another ten per cent plan to take out a new credit card, eight per cent expect to need a payday loan while two per cent say they may turn to an unofficial lender.

Chris Wood, Yorkshire R3 committee member, said: “While it’s good that in Yorkshire and Humberside only 20 per cent of adults, compared with 27 per cent nationally, are prepared to take on debt to pay for Christmas, this is still a higher level than we’d like to see.”