British retail sales tumble 2.7 per cent in May

Paul Dales, economist at the consultancy Capital Economics, said: “The sharp drop back in retail sales volumes . . . adds to other evidence that the burst of economic growth in Q1 is over.”

After the inflation numbers were released, a cut in August “looked less likely”, according to Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics. “But last week we found out that the CPI [consumer...

The consultancy Capital Economics estimated that if new defence spending was funded by government borrowing, each pound, euro or dollar spent would typically boost economic output by around half that...