Retail sales in Great Britain fell 0.4% month on month in September, according to the Office for National Statistics. This decline was nearly four times steeper than the 0.1% drop economists had predicted.
The ONS data marks another negative economic indicator ahead of Chancellor John Healey's budget announcement next week. The steeper-than-expected contraction suggests British households are reducing spending more sharply than anticipated.
The Guardian reported the figures without attributing specific claims about household struggles to named sources in the provided excerpt. The timing of the data, released before a major fiscal announcement, underscores mounting pressure on the government's economic management heading into the budget cycle.