Retail sales declined in August after two months of increases, according to data released by the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

UK like-for-like sales - which do not include new stores - fell 0.1% compared with the same month last year. Sales rose by 1.8% in July and by 1.4% in June against a year earlier.

"The strong figures of June and July haven't been sustained. It's clear the deceptively good sales growth of those months was due to summer sun and price cuts," said Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC.