THE volume of Scottish retail sales rose by 0.2 per cent in the first quarter, official figures have revealed, well adrift of a 0.9 per cent increase in Great Britain as a whole.

Comparing the first quarter with the opening three months of 2014, the figures from the Scottish Government show that the volume of retail sales north of the Border was up by 2.2 per cent. The corresponding year-on-year growth in retail sales volumes in Great Britain as a whole in the first quarter was 5.2 per cent.