Retailers in the UK experienced their lowest sales in January for 15 years as extreme weather and the rise of VAT kept consumers at home, according to data released by the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Underlying sales values for January fell 0.7% compared to a 2.6% rise in January last year.

"It's an awful start to the year and in stark contrast to an upbeat December. The VAT change brought some sales forward to December, but customers are becoming cautious again in the face of economic and political uncertainty," said Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC.

Despite the poor figures there were some positives to take from January's figures. Food sales held up well in the first half of the month, thanks to consumers stocking up during the icy weather and online sales continued to rise sharply - these were 14.6% higher in January compared with a year ago.