and the british retail consortium said that incidents are becoming more violent and frightening. ortium. give us an idea of what the biggest triggers are in terms of what brings about violence and abuse for shop staff? our expert members tell us there are three triggers. the first is the act of theft. people use violence when they are trying to steal significant amounts of goods. the second is age—related sales, so when people are challenged when they are buying certain things that are restricted. that can be a flash point. the third is when people are intoxicated with drink or drugs and that can cause difficult issues. but for us, the first one, the attempted theft, is the most difficult and problematic. i had been in a situation when i have seen those theft taking place and i have grown up theft taking place and i have grown up to theft taking place and i have grown uptoa theft taking place and i have grown up to a security guard and they have stood back. iassume up to a security guard and they have stood back. i assume they are concerned about being attacked. is that pushing sh

employees were attacked at work every day last year, some using knives according to the british retail consortium's the industry. that figure is up i2% on the previous year, and the equivalent of around 20% of the sector's estimated profits. following on from a record january for tax receipts, the public finances registered a deficit ofjust £0.2 billion in february, an improvement of £ibn on last february. so, the chancellor remains comfortably on track to meet the revised forecast of a deficit of £22.8 billion for this financial year, with just one month to go. british video game retailer game has reported a 20.3% rise in pre—tax profits for the six months to the end of january. profits rose to just under £15m, compared to about £i2m for the same period in 2018. let's check in with the financial markets. as you can see on the board, the ftse 100 staying in board, the ftse100 staying in positive territory. that is after the bank of england kept interest rates on hold. brexit uncertainty is something we have heard a lot about recently. it wants guidance from the us central bank, that set the tone in

these are not official government figures but from british retail consortium and springboard, yet they february weather could not tempt the shoppers out, and footfall, as it is called, fell by 2% year—on—year across high streets, retail parks, and shopping centres. the only bright spot is northern ireland where the numbers seem to the going in a positive direction. diane wehrle is insights director at springboard who put together the figures. there is something quite serious going on here because 15 months is a long time. it is something you would associate with the recession. but we are not in recession, what is happening? we are not, there is a long—term trend for decline in footfall pa rt long—term trend for decline in footfall part of which is the movement of some of our spend on to the internet. we have been tracking footfall at spring board for over a decade. 0ver that period, we have seen a decade. 0ver that period, we have seen a decline because our habits and patterns of activity around going to high streets and shopping centres have changed, we go less often, we stay for more

the british retail consortium says footfall dropped by 2% compared to 2018.y attract people to the high street. our consumer affairs correspondent, colletta smith, has been to two towns to see how they're fighting back. this used to be a bhs. it's pretty hard to tell now, but removing the floor has turned the men's department into a sponge pit. they're doing things differently in doncaster. nine years ago, the council was in trouble and a new team was drafted in to sort out the town's problems. top of the list was a failing high street. the town centre was struggling. we have less than half of the office space that's typically in a town centre to others, double the amount of retail space that's different to others, and a vacancy rate that was double what was happening in the uk. so the council spent £50 million on a new cinema, a new theatre, and transforming the old wool market, which is due to open in the next few days. we're a work in progress and we've still got masses of challenges, i'm not going to lie about that, but what we're not doing is sticking ou

according to british retail consortium, december 2018 was the worst december sales performance in tenmer ceo of pringle, aquascutum. you were one of the first female directors at marks & spencer. how different is it on the high street just now? it is one of the most challenging times for retail. net a porter was set up nearly 20 years ago, and what has happened with the internet, i i‘m still surprised some of the smaller businesses have not recognised that and moved quickly. in 2008, when we had the crash, a lot of companies looked at ways to save money, and in many instances they were looking at pushing up margins on the product to try to cover the costs of the company during weaker revenue times, and that pushed down the quality of the product, so you have ended up with quite a mass of businesses with a similar offer that are not keeping up similar offer that are not keeping up with lifestyle changes, so in a strong market, the weaker players can survive, and in a weaker market, which is where we are today, they are definitely going to fall. which is where we are today, they are def

the imf, the cbi, the british retail consortium all talking about the fact that it will be a really badh. if you wa nt to leave on the 29th of march. if you want to stop talking about brexit, that's what we need to do. offer the european union tariff and quota free trade which we can have up to ten yea rs. trade which we can have up to ten years. that's another whole period of negotiation. we can't negotiate our future reagent —— of negotiation. we can't negotiate ourfuture reagent —— relationship. immediately offering them tariff and quota trade. the eu will respect that because we sell twice as much as they do in goods. you had a busy night, thank you. storm gareth is out there. carol can tell is all about grey and gareth. i can only tell you about storm gareth this morning. it is already been packing a punch. 75 miles per hour in south—west scotland, north—west england, 69. blackpool, 60 and manchester, 54. it's going to be very windy wherever you are today. we think more or less the wins have peaked in the northern half of the uk. as well as the wind, we are looking at a day of suns

the british retail consortium have said you don't need to stockpile, because, really, supermarket should if they are not being completely transparent about it. although it feels particularly painful as we go through the brexit process , painful as we go through the brexit process, it is worth remembering that most of our mps and everyone in brussels want us to reach a deal to see the supply chain is going on as normal. that is the objective. at the same time, if you are worrying, if you're fretting about having your cupboards full, there is nothing wrong with getting the extra baked beans and if you have the cupboard space. thank you very much indeed. i think ithinki i think i have an eight pack of baked beans. it was a two for whatever it was. it was in ireland. i was there with the kids. ijust chuckedit i was there with the kids. ijust chucked it in. can i have my cake? no, you can't. a ship containing some rather special cargo is due to arrive in plymouth shortly. breakfast‘s john mcguire is there for us this morning, and we canjoin him now. look at this. i think we can see what is ar

according to british retail consortium, december 2018 was the worst december 5ales performance in tenappened. i mean, if you think natalie mass and a set up net a porter nearly 20 years ago, and what has happened with the internet, i am still surprised that some of the week businesses still haven't recognised that and moved very quickly over the last couple of decades. you have also had from 2008 when we had the crash, a lot of companies were looking at ways to save money, and in many instances, they were looking at pushing up margins on the product to try to covei’ margins on the product to try to cover the costs of the company during weaker revenue times. that did push down the quality of the product, so you have ended up with quite a mass of businesses with a very similar offer that are really not keeping up with live tile changes. so in a strong market, the weaker players can survive and in a weaker players can survive and in a weaker market they will definitely fall. british companies have scaled back 5harply their hiring and investment plans amid the growing turmoil around brita

the british retail consortium says mother's day also brings a big boost in sales of women's clothes and how we're spending our cash ahead of the big day tomorrow. let me introduce you to sarah, eleanor and emma and melanie. for women, four mums, all running bustling businesses. but this weekend things are going into overdrive. we do look forward to doing this sort of trade as well because we just love to be busy. it's great to see customers and just seeing what we can produce and create. you know, passion is flowers. for the staff in melanie's florists, it's about turning perfect blooms into beautiful bouquets for more customers than at any other point in the year. we can just have a really creative flair, order whatever we want, design it and itjust sells. and it's notjust flowers and chocolate, statistics from the last five years shows there is also a boost in amount that we spend on the weekly food shop, as plans are made for a big mothering sunday lunch. well, i'm actually going to my mum's. my mum is cooking sunday lunch for us all. so your mum is doing the cooking? my mum is cooki

the british retail consortium says footfall dropped by 2% compared to 2018.es of challenges. but we are not sticking our head in the sand, we are not saying it is somebody else'sjob, sand, we are not saying it is somebody else's job, we sand, we are not saying it is somebody else'sjob, we are cracking on and making the change we want to see. but on the other side of the peak district in leek, they think businesses should take charge. councils are top down and will come in and say, we will do this and people go, all right then and then they go, what are you going do for me now. now it is up to you to get off your backside and start doing things for yourself. chris runs a campaign called totally locally, designed to get businesses meeting and working together and encouraging residents to spend a fiver a week in shops. i'm proud of it. the success has been the totally locally burger. meat and bread sourced from the local area. this was worth buying ingredients from the high street, 300 to 400 go straight back in. i oo it is brilliant. everyone is friends and wor

this has come from the british retail consortium. ting. talking about attacks on retail staff. that is very dangerous, having to put all these infrastructure, camera, security guards and the high street. yes, it is really concerning finding. ithink yes, it is really concerning finding. i think one of the problems with this is the violent crime we are seeing in the retail industry. we have clients coming to us citing problems with cyber car security and fraud, but it is violent crime that has a direct impact on staff on the front line. i started has a direct impact on staff on the front line. istarted my has a direct impact on staff on the front line. i started my career as a student on these shop floor and i think that is really telling because in the retail industry, a shop floor staff demographic is a really composed of quite young people usually, it is casual work, it a tt ra cts usually, it is casual work, it attracts people who need flexible working hours and i think it is really concerning that that particular demographic, young