Retailers suffered a weak end to 2018 as Brexit uncertainty saw shoppers spending less in the face of Brexit uncertainty, the latest data shows today.

 

Sales fell 0.9 per cent month on month in December as shoppers kept their purses closed, the Office for National Statistics data revealed.

 

Trading fell in all retail sectors save food stores and petrol stations. Excluding those, sales fell a dramatic 1.3 per cent from November.

 

Meanwhile, growth for the whole of 2018 almost halved compared to 2016’s 4.7 per cent peak in growth, falling to 2.7 per cent.

 

The three months to the end of December saw sales dip 0.2 per cent compared to the same quarter last year.

 

Online retailers continued to eat into high street shops’ margins, accounting for 20 per cent of all retail sales in December, growing by 13.7 per cent compared to the end of 2017.

 

The Centre for Economics and Business Research blamed the “suffocating effect” of Brexit uncertainty for the subdued spending, which comes at a time when employment is at a record high.

 

Cebr economist Pablo Shah added: “These figures fall short of what was an already pessimistic consensus forecast, and ring further alarm bells for the high street.”

 

 

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