Economic recovery has come too late for Sunak

Today’s retail sales figures, showing that volumes increased by 2.9 per cent in May after a fall of 1.8 per cent in April, provide yet another sign of economic recovery. But there must be a horrible and growing realisation in Downing Street that it is all coming too late – and that it will be an incoming Labour government which benefits from economic recovery.

As for the sales figures themselves, they are not as dramatic as they might at first appear. Rather, the plunge in sales in April, followed by the sharp rise in May, shows how volatile these statistics are. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) seasonally-adjusts them, yet these figures also depend on how the dates fall: some months have four weekends and others five, which must make something of a difference. Looking at the wider picture, sales volumes increased by 1.0