Sterling plunge over Brexit hits new car sales

The drop in the value of sterling because of Brexit is weighing on the purchase of new cars but spending in many other areas of the economy appears to be holding up, the latest retail spending figures suggest.

The CSO figures showed headline retail sales for February fell 0.5% in volume terms from January but were still up 1.1% from February 2016.

Underlying sales figures, which exclude car sales, rose strongly, with volume sales rising 1.1% in the month and climbing 5.9% from a year earlier.