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High street sales are at their lowest level for a quarter of a century, a Confederation of British Industry (CBI) poll finds.

The organisation blames the economic problems on a wet August and the downturn in the housing market which have discouraged consumers from spending.

Some 60 per cent of the firms questioned by the CBI reported falls in sales during the first half of the month, compared with 13 per cent - mainly supermarkets - which experienced a rise.

Andy Clarke, chairman of the CBI distributive trades panel and retail director of Asda, describes the month as 'a summer that many retailers would rather forget'.

Chief economic advisor for the organisation Ian McCafferty warns that the tough conditions are set to continue, with retailers being forced to cut down on staff numbers.

Earlier in the month, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) claimed that figures provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) did not match up with reality.

Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC, said the trade body found growth to be 1.7 per cent - well below the ONS figures of 3.8 per cent because the statistics do not measure like-for-like sales, meaning they do not reveal the true situation.

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