The value of Scottish retail sales in July was up by 0.7% on a year earlier, but this advance was driven in large part by food price inflation. The Scottish Retail Consortium have announced that non-food sales remained weak last month, due to continued consumer caution amid economic and political uncertainty. The value of food sales in Scotland in July was up by 4.2% on the same month of last year, however overall performance continues a pattern in recent years of a weaker retail sales performance in Scotland than in the UK as a whole.