Tesco is to take on Marks & Spencer with its Valentine’s Day luxury meal promotion, offering a meal for two for £9.

The deal offers a choice of luxury Finest range meals with a separate side dish, a dessert and bottle of wine. The move follows the£10 meal for two that M&S launched last year, which has also been copied by Waitrose.

Tesco commercial director Richard Brasher said: “The Finest meal for two offer means customers can enjoy a special meal with a decent bottle of wine for a fraction of the cost of going out.

“And they tell us that the Tesco deal is better than the similar M&S offer because it provides the quality they want but at a cheaper price and is more convenient for them to buy.”

The move follows a trial of the deal before Christmas, when those stores involved reported a 20 per cent increase in sales of convenience meals.

The Finest deal will now be rolled out to Tesco’s top 500 stores across the UK and then could roll out further.