Fears of public sector job cuts and generally weaker consumer confidence meant like-for-like sales in Scotland did not improve as much in March as they did in the rest of the UK.

Like-for-like sales were just 0.6 per cent higher than in March 2009 while for the UK the rise was 4.4 per cent. Total Scottish sales, according to the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC)/KPMG Scottish Retail Sales Monitor were 3.9 per cent higher.

Non-food sales remained down on a year ago.

SRC head of media Richard Dodd admitted the results were disappointing.

“Sales growth was up on the previous month but nowhere near as strongly as in other parts of the UK, suggesting the aftermath of recession has a tighter hold in Scotland than elsewhere.

“The earlier Easter didn’t provide the boost to March sales we would have expected or that it did south of the border.”

The main problem, he said, was weakening consumer confidence.

“With a bigger proportion of Scottish jobs in the public sector than for the UK as a whole, pre-election uncertainty over spending cuts is having a disproportionately severe effect on Scottish customers’ willingness to shop.”

At KPMG, head of retail in Scotland David McCorquodale said: “The like-for-like sales increase in Scotland of 0.6 per cent in March, when compared with 4.4 per cent for the rest of the UK, makes depressing reading for Scottish retailers.

“Economists are suggesting that Scotland is moving more slowly out of the recession than the rest of the UK and these statistics appear to back that up.”

He added that with the majority of Easter spending falling in March this year as opposed to April last year should have helped the figures. “Without this uplift an even gloomier picture would have emerged”.

Hit by consumer caution in Scotland, electricals struggled, the monitor pointed out. It also found that white goods generally sold better than TVs and computers.