Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government has made billions of pounds of new spending commitments in its first three weeks in office, even before the potential costs of a disruptive, no-deal Brexit are taken into account.

British retail sales unexpectedly edged up in July, helped by the strongest growth in online spending in three years, as consumers continued to support the economy before the Oct. 31 Brexit deadline.

Britain's inflation rate unexpectedly overshot the Bank of England's 2% target on Wednesday, raising the cost of living even before sterling's slide has had much chance to feed into consumer prices.

Britain's labour market showed unexpected strength in the second quarter but economists said this could prove a high water mark, after figures last week showed the economy contracted as businesses braced for a potentially disruptive Brexit.

Labour market data showing the fastest pay growth in 11 years and more people in work show the underlying strength of the British economy, finance minister Sajid Javid said on Tuesday.

More than 50 British retailers, including Sainsbury's , Marks & Spencer , Asda and Morrisons have urged the government to freeze business rates to help out the struggling sector.

British households' expectations for inflation over the next 12 months rose to 2.8% in July from 2.6% in June, according to a survey from U.S. investment bank Citi and pollsters YouGov.

The number of empty shops in Britain hit its highest rate in four years in July, industry data showed on Monday, adding to the growing gloom in the retail sector.

British finance minister Sajid Javid said the fundamentals of the UK economy were strong after figures showed it had contracted in the second quarter, but he said it was a challenging period for the global economy as a whole.

Britain's economy shrank for the first time since 2012 in the second quarter, a severe hangover from a pre-Brexit stockpiling boost and one that bodes poorly as Prime Minister Boris Johnson gears up to leave the EU in October.