Economists said the odds on the Bank of England raising interest rates within the next few months had shortened yesterday after astonishing data on retail sales suggested high street spending had risen at the fastest rate on record last month.

The Office for National Statistics said retail sales volumes went up by 3.5 per cent in May, a staggering increase given analysts' expectations of a month-on-month fall. In the past three months, sales had risen 1.8 per cent on the previous quarter and 5.4 per cent since the same period a year earlier.