UK retailers suffer sharpest sales drop for 22 years in April

British Retail Consortium's latest health check shows 3.1% fall, the biggest dip since its survey launched in 1995

Britain's retailers suffered the sharpest drop in business in more than two decades last month as bad weather, the squeeze on household budgets and the timing of Easter led to a hefty cut in consumer spending.

In the latest evidence of the slowdown in the economy since the turn of the year, the latest health check from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG found that sales were down by 3.1% in April, the biggest decline since the survey was launched in 1995.

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