Ian McConnell

The chief executive of the British Retail Consortium has warned consumers want to spend but “just don’t have the resources”.

Helen Dickinson’s comments come as the BRC’s latest survey shows UK retail sales value last month was up 1.6 per cent on February 2017.

She said: “Inflation is still eating into shoppers’ budgets, pushing them to spend a greater share of their income on essentials and leaving less left over to buy discretionary, predominantly non-food items.”