Weather hurts spending

Police fighting organised crime will be able to seize betting slips, casino chips andevenjewelleryandprecious stones from crooks. The new move comes into force today, thanks to a change in the law.

Justicesecretarymichael Matheson hailed it as a “significant step” in ensuring those involved in illegal activities cannot profit from a life of crime.

A change to the provisions in the Criminal Finances Act 2017 means betting slips, casino chips and gaming vouchers can all be seized by police as if they were cash assets.

Officers will also be able to search for items of value – jewellery, watches, stamps and precious stones – suspected of being involved in illegal activity.

Mr Matheson said: “This is a significant step in ensuring criminals cannot profit from unlawful activities. There must be no respite in tackling organised crime.” Households’ spending growth was at its weakest levels in over five years during the first three months of 2018 amid the cold weather and waning consumer confidence, according to an index.

Spending fell by 1.4 per cent year-on-year across the first quarter of this year – marking the worst quarterly performance since the fourth quarter of 2018, Visa’s UK Consumer Spending Index found.

Overall consumer spending fell by 2.1 per cent annually in March, with face-to-face spending on the high street down by 3 per cent year-onyear.

Mark Antipof, chief commercial officer at Visa, said: “We are in the midst of a dip in consumer confidence and this – coupled with other economic factors– is causing shoppers to restrain themselves.”