Christmas gave retailers a boost, say BRC

A pre-Christmas rush helped boost UK retail sales in December.

The British Retail consortium (BRC) described the last minute surge as 'dazzling' with sales rising by more than 4% compared with this time last year when shoppers had to contend with heavy snow.

Meanwhile a survey from the British Chamber of Commerce has suggested that Britain can avoid slipping back into recession, even though the economy has been significantly weakened by the eurozone crisis.

Hugh Pym reports.