One in 10 of all businesses in Wales are retailers who account for more than 11 per cent of the country's workforce, providing jobs for around 131,000 people in the principality.

These figures were featured in a new report “Welsh Retail: Serving Our Communities” that coincides with the launch today of the Welsh Retail Consortium (WRC).

The WRC, a sister body to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), will build on previous BRC activity in Wales, the group said.

"We've been working with the Welsh Government for years under the umbrella of the British Retail Consortium but I'm delighted we can now bring that relationship into greater focus,” said WRC director Mark Ross (pictured).

“There are already positive signs that ministers are looking to work with the retail sector for the benefit of all rather than treating it as a cash cow to be milked through higher taxation – a mistake being made by the administrations in Scotland and Northern Ireland,” he said.