Retail sales rise at record pace

The spell of warm weather in May helped to trigger a record jump in UK retail sales, official figures have show, reported The BBC.

Overall sales rose by 3.5% during May, the strongest monthly growth in sales since the series began in January 1986.

Food sales rose 3.3% as people bought salads and stocked up for barbecues, while clothing sales jumped 9.2% as shoppers sought out new summer outfits.

The better-than-expected figures took the annual sales increase to 8.1%, the fastest rate since April 2002.

The sales jump recorded by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) echoed the findings of the British Retail Consortium (BRC) released earlier this month.

The BRC found that underlying retail sales in May had risen 1.9% thanks to the sunny weather.

But the consortium also warned that consumer confidence remained weak, with falling property prices and rising food and fuel bills causing people to rein in their spending.

The strong increase in sales for in May recorded by the ONS followed two months of falling sales.

Comparing the period between March and May with the previous three months - which is seen as a better measure of underlying growth - sales rose by 1.8%. This was against growth of 1.5% in the February to April period.