The pressure on Britain’s store owners has been highlighted starkly in new figures showing almost one fifth of all shopping last month was done online.

British consumers are vulnerable to a hike in interest rates, ratings agency Moody’s has said, two weeks before the Bank of England is widely expected to hike borrowing costs for the first time in more than a decade.

Sterling fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 2009 but was little changed against the euro at almost 76.5 pence after Bank of England governor Mark Carney yesterday signalled a boost to UK interest rates is still some way off.

Britain’s current account deficit was much bigger than expected in the fourth quarter of 2013, another warning sign about the sustainability of the country’s economic recovery, official data showed yesterday.