Prices in UK shops rose at their slowest rate since late 2021 in April as deep discounts by clothing and footwear retailers put the brakes on inflation, the latest snapshot of high street spending trends has shown. The monthly bulletin from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) – the lobby group for the industry – found that the battle by store owners to offload summer stock in cold and wet weather meant prices in non-food stores were lower this month than a year earlier. The BRC said the cost of non-food goods fell at an annual rate of 0.6% in April, while the price of food increased by 3.4%, down from 3.7% in March. Taken together, food and non-food inflation stood at 0.8% in April, compared to 1.3% in the year to March – the lowest level since December 2021. Related: Ocado pay backlash looms as firm moves to offer boss £14.8m package Data for the BRC’s shop price bulletin was collected early in the month and points to another fall in the official inflation figure for April when it is released next month. Inflation peaked at 11.1% in October 2022 – the highest level in four decades – but has...