Falling retail sales shows how fragile the UK economy is

Until a few weeks ago it seemed as if the government had inherited if not a golden economic legacy then an improving economic picture. But this morning’s figures for retail sales show just how faltering the economy is. During October the volume of retail sales fell by 0.7 per cent. Worst-affected was textile and clothing sales, which plunged by 3.1 per cent. Online retail suffered along with physical stores. Not only that, the figures for September were revised downwards from 0.3 to 0.1 per cent growth.

Comparing year on year, sales volumes were still up 2.4 per cent. Sales in the three months to October were also up, by 0.8 per cent compared with the previous quarter. They are a more reliable guide to what is happening on the High Street as the single monthly figure can be affected by the number of weekends which happen to fall within a month – and also, in this case, with school half-term which this year fell outside the period for which the figures were calculated.