The pattern of sales recorded by the British Retail Consortium's sales monitor for February recorded growth in retail sales of 1.3 per cent on a like-for-like basis, and by 3.9 per cent on a total basis compared with 2002.

The three-month trend rates of growth decreased from 2.7 per cent in January to 2.5 per cent in February for like-for-like sales, from 5.4 per cent to 5.1 per cent for total sales.

BRC director general Bill Moyes commented: 'The retail boom is clearly over. As these figures show, consumer sentiment is weak and the industry needs positive moves from the Chancellor to stimulate demand.

'We do not want sympathy, we want action. If the Chancellor doesn't want the brakes applied to economic growth, the Budget must not inflate business costs or further weaken consumer demand.' The BRC believes uncertainty about war and economy has dented consumer confidence, and this weakened consumer demand has impacted on retail sales with many sectors reporting a slow month. The impact of the congestion charge is unclear as yet.

Bridget Rosewell, the BRC's chief economic advisor, added: 'The results for February are the weakest since the slowdown of 1999, once we exclude erratic changes caused by the changing month of Easter. They confirm the decision taken last month by the bank to reduce interest rates and the need at this juncture to maintain the confidence in the face of the geopolitical uncertainties that confront us.

'Although statistics suggest that a recovery has begun in the general economy, it would take very little to undermine this in the consumer area which is so crucial to economic growth.'