UK retail sales rise 3.5% in May

UK retail sales unexpectedly rose by the most since records began two decades ago as Britons bought more seasonal food and clothing during the warmest May ever.

Sales rose 3.5 percent, the most since the series started in 1986, after falling 0.3 percent in April, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday in London. Sales rose 8.1 percent on the year, the most since 2002.

The reading suggests rising food and energy costs and falling house prices have yet to provoke a slowdown in consumer spending. Governor Mervyn King said that policymakers won't flinch in their fight against accelerating inflation, which will require British living standards to slip and growth to weaken.