LONDON: According to Friday’s official data, UK retail sales slid one percent in December, the key Christmas trading period, with consumers hit by sky-high inflation, reports AFP.

Sales by volume dropped for a second month running after a fall of 0.5 percent in November, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

Official data Wednesday showed UK annual inflation slowed to 10.5 percent in December.

However it remains close to a four-decade high that is causing a cost-of-living crisis and mass strikes by workers, including nurses, teachers and the railway sector.