LONDON (AP) — The British government is not prepared to take unnecessary risks to provide short-term economic relief, the Treasury chief said yesterday while maintaining that the country was well prepared to deal with slowing growth.

As more data was released on retail sales showing that consumers are curbing spending amid rising food and energy costs, Treasurer Alistair Darling said the government was determined to reduce Britain's dependence on imported energy.

However, he dismissed calls by union leaders for a windfall tax on energy companies, who have reported big profits this year on the back of a rise in crude oil prices.

"We must become less reliant on imported coal and gas," Darling told the Trades Union Congress, citing energy security as a priority for the government.

Darling said that while borrowing should be allowed to rise to support the economy, every government must live within its means.

Meanwhile, the British Retail Consortium revealed that retail sales were down one percent in August compared with a year earlier, continuing a run of disappointing results.

The data "adds to the mounting evidence that consumers are retrenching, either out of choice or out of necessity, in the face of mounting handicaps", Global Insight economist Howard Archer said, citing rising utility bills, elevated food prices, tight credit conditions and higher mortgage repayments.

The consortium blamed the decline on rainy weather, sagging consumer confidence and the squeeze on household budgets due to higher prices for energy and food.

A second report out yesterday said that industrial production was down 1.1 percent in the three months through July, compared with the previous quarter.

The Office for National Statistics said manufacturing was broadly lower in Britain, led by a 1.3 percent drop in the electrical and optical equipment industries. There were no significant increases.