Four people have been arrested at Manchester Airport on suspicion of terrorism, police have said.
Two others were arrested on Tuesday as part of the same investigation, launched after nine people were stopped on the Turkey-Syria border on 1 April.
The four are aged between 22 and 47 and are all from Rochdale, Greater Manchester Police said.
Waheed Ahmed, 21, a Labour councillor's son, was one of two men arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of terrorism.
He was arrested at Birmingham Airport after being deported from Turkey.
A 31-year-old man was also arrested over the same offence in the Rochdale area.
The six arrested people remain in custody.
The group of nine detained in Turkey included five adults and four children.
Greater Manchester Police said officers were working to establish their reason for travel and apparent attempted entry into Syria.
Waheed Ahmed was seen preparing to leave Hatay on a coach The nine Britons were detained in Hatay near the Syrian border on 1 April
Officers searched houses in the Rochdale borough as part of the investigation and police said no evidence was found to suggest any "imminent threat" to Rochdale or the rest of the UK.
Greater Manchester Police said in a statement: "Officers continue to work closely with Rochdale Borough Council, local partners, and faith leaders as part of the 'Prevent' initiative."
Footage released on Sunday shows Mr Ahmed leaving a police station in Hatay in Turkey, before getting a coach to Antalya.
His father, Rochdale Labour councillor Shakil Ahmed, said he had thought his son was on holiday.
In a statement he said: "My son is a good Muslim and his loyalties belong to Britain, so I don't understand what he's doing there."
The UN refugee agency says not enough is being done to save the lives of the increased numbers of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.
A UNHCR spokesman told the BBC around 400 migrants were still missing after their boat capsized off Libya.
The Libyan coastguard has told the BBC it expects more people to attempt crossings later this week.
Hundreds more migrants rescued from boats in the Mediterranean are due to arrive in Sicily during the day.
More than 8,000 migrants have been picked up since Friday, and more boats are heading for the Italian coast.
Italy's interior ministry has instructed officials throughout the country to be prepared to house the new arrivals, many of whom are children.
UN officials say well over 500 people have died since the start of the year, 30 times more than in the same period last year.
Over 280,000 people entered the EU illegally last year, many fleeing conflict in Syria and repression in Eritrea.
'Migration season'
The Italian coast guard rescued 144 people from the boat on Monday and launched an air and sea search operation in hopes of saving others.
Nine bodies have already been recovered, but no more survivors have been found since then.
The BBC's Quentin Sommerville is at a detention centre for would-be migrants in Misrata, Libya - among them this 14-year-old from Eritrea (below). "Is this a jail? Are we refugees?" some of the migrants ask, saying they have been held for seven months.
Last year, 170,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean to Italy and as many as 3,500 died while making the journey, officials say.
The Italian government's maritime rescue operation was scaled back, amid concerns that it was encouraging migrant crossings, and a more limited EU border security operation took over.
However, the latest numbers show that the EU's policy of deterring people is not working, the BBC's James Reynolds in Sicily reports.
Shots fired
Meanwhile the EU's Frontex border agency said that people smugglers had fired shots into the air to warn away another coast guard vessel rescuing migrants.
The incident on Monday happened about 60 nautical miles off Libya after an Italian vessel and an Icelandic coast guard ship came to the rescue of 250 migrants on a tugboat.
More than 8,000 migrants have been rescued from the Mediterranean since Friday
After most of the migrants were rescued, traffickers in a speedboat drove towards the rescuers, firing shots before retrieving the now-empty migrant boat.
The coast guard vessel was already carrying 342 migrants from a previous rescue.
Frontex says the incident shows that traffickers are running out of boats.
EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told the European Parliament: "The unprecedented influx of migrants at our borders, and in particular refugees, is unfortunately the new norm and we will need to adjust our responses accordingly."
On Friday, humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres announced it would operate a search and rescue mission in the Mediterranean between May and October.
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GP services are facing a crisis, with a third of doctors considering retirement in the next five years, a British Medical Association poll suggests.
The survey of more than 15,000 UK GPs also found over a quarter were considering working part-time.
And one in 10 said they were thinking about moving abroad.
BMA GP leader Dr Chaand Nagpaul said the findings showed some of the promises being made about doctors by politicians were "absurd".
Improving GP care has been one of the major themes of debate in the election, with the Conservatives promising seven-day access to services and Labour pledging a 48-hour waiting-time guarantee.
This issue includes NHS funding, GP access and social care, particularly of older people.
The findings are in the second tranche of results from the BMA's poll of GPs, in which nearly a third of doctors in the UK took part.
Last week the BMA released figures suggesting excessive workloads were harming care. This batch of results focused on the effect those rising demands were having. It suggests:
34% of GPs are considering retiring from general practice in the next five years
28% of those working full-time are thinking about moving to part-time
9% are considering moving abroad
7% are considering quitting medicine altogether
They also cited various factors that had a negative impact on their commitment to being a GP, including:
excessive workload - 71%
un-resourced work being moved into general practice - 54%
Dr Nagpaul said: "This poll lays bare the stark reality of the crisis facing the GP workforce.
"It is clear that incredible pressures on GP services are at the heart of this problem, with escalating demand having far outstripped capacity.
"GPs are overworked and intensely frustrated that they do not have enough time to spend with their patients.
"In this climate, it is absurd that in the recent leaders' debate, political parties were attempting to outbid each other on the number of GPs they could magically produce in the next Parliament.
"Since it takes five to eight years to train a GP, it is not possible to create thousands of GPs in this timeframe."
Katherine Murphy, of the Patients Association, said: "We know from the many calls to our helpline that patients are not able to access GP services at times when they need to.
"What patients want is a clear and firm commitment that GPs now and tomorrow will have the resources to meet their needs.
"Anything less is just not acceptable.
"We need a 21st Century primary care service with access 24/7."
But a spokesman for NHS England said measures were being put in place to recruit extra GPs through the recently developed workforce action plan.
He said: "NHS England has invested £10m to kick-start the initiatives in the plan, which include incentives to recruit newly trained doctors into general practice, schemes to retain GPs thinking of leaving the profession and a new induction and returner scheme to encourage more GPs to return from to work after a period of absence working abroad or from a career break."
There are currently 9,000 GPs in training, although 14,000 doctors - about four in 10 - are over the age of 50.
Are you a GP considering retirement or working part-time? What is your reaction to the BMA poll findings? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experience.
Please include a telephone number if you are willing to be contacted by a BBC journalist.
The Commission may send Google a "statement of objections" after a five-year investigation
The European Union is expected to set out later the action it will take against Google over alleged anti-competitive behaviour.
Its competition commissioner is likely to outline her intentions against the search giant following a five-year EU investigation into the company.
Reports suggest Margrethe Vestager will issue a "statement of objections".
That would escalate a process that could ultimately lead to billions of euros of fines.
But Google told employees on Tuesday that it had a "very strong case" and is expected to defend itself robustly in what could become one of the most contentious antitrust cases since the EU took on Microsoft 10 years ago.
The Commission is responding to complaints that Google, which accounts for more than a 90% of EU-based web searches, favours its own products in search engine results.
The company has yet to respond formally.
'Preferential treatment'
The European Commission has investigated the antitrust allegations - made by Microsoft, Tripadvisor, Streetmap and others - since 2010.
They object to the fact that the firm places reviews from Google+, directions from Google Maps, music and videos from YouTube, and adverts from its Adwords platform ahead of others' links in relevant searches.
"At the core must be the fundamental principle that Google must not abuse its power in general online search to give preferential treatment to its own separate services," Icomp, a lobbying group representing the complainants, said earlier this year..
Google is accused of promoting results from its own services ahead of other links
"If Google takes the view that users are best served by search results that integrate additional services, Google must choose the services that benefit consumers most, even if the services are not its own."
Last year, Google agreed to alter the way it displayed its search results, but the changes it suggested were deemed to be insufficient.
The previous competition commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, asked the company to come up with a new plan.
He left his post without resolving the matter, and was criticised by some politicians for not having taken a firmer stance.
Legal requirement
Ms Vestager, his successor, may take a tougher line by issuing a "statement of objections".
This involves sending a letter that sets out all the objections the commission can base its final decision on, and is a legal requirement, providing Google an opportunity to respond before action is taken.
Margrethe Vestager is the EU's competition commissioner
Google could face huge fines and be ordered to reshape its business in Europe.
In recent years, the Commission has imposed antitrust penalties on other tech giants, ordering Intel to pay 1.1bn euros (£793m; $1.2bn) in 2009 and Microsoft 516m euros in 2013.
'Example'
Thomas Vinje, spokesman for FairSearch Europe, said issuing a statement of objections would "represent a significant step towards ending Google's anti-competitive practices, which have harmed innovation and consumer choice".
"Google's search engine makes it a gatekeeper to different markets in which Google itself also operates," said Paul Henty, a lawyer at Charles Russell Speechlys who has previously worked for the European Commission.
"I think the Commission will want to send an unequivocal message that it has a special responsibility to give its rivals fair and equal access to customers.
"But I can't see that this will be a fast process given the complexity of the subject matter, what's at stake and the likely level of the fine."
In an internal memo to its staff, Google insisted that competition to its search business was "thriving" despite allegations to the contrary.
"People can use Bing, Yahoo, Quora, DuckDuckGo, and a new wave of search assistants like Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana," it said.
"In addition, users increasingly turn to social networks like Facebook and Twitter to find news and suggestions - where to eat or which movies to watch.
"[And] mobile is changing everything - with the explosion of apps taking people directly to the information they want."
Google insists rival services, including Microsoft's Bing, provide users with an alternative despite its dominance of web searches in Europe
International inquiries
The EU's investigation is not the only one Google is facing.
Investigators at India's Competition Commission delivered a report last week after carrying out a three-year probe into claims of unfair business practices.
Their counterparts in Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Taiwan and Canada have also opened investigations.
However, the US Federal Trade Commission dropped its own probe at the start of 2013 after Google made several non-binding commitments.
Rapid referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union
Control immigration
Powers for voters to recall MPs
Extra £3bn a year for the NHS
No tax on the minimum wage
Last year Mr Farage described the party's 2010 general election manifesto, drawn up when he was not the UKIP leader, as "drivel".
But he said the 2015 version would be for people "who "believe in Britain".
Mr Farage will set out the party's election offerings at 11.15 BST in Thurrock, Essex.
It comes as one of the party's senior figures, immigration and economic spokesman Steven Woolfe, admitted to disagreements with UKIP's campaign chief Suzanne Evans over the party's immigration policies.
Mr Woolfe confirmed to BBC Radio 5 live Breakfast reports in the Telegraph he said Ms Evans "didn't seem to understand" the policies were true, but that he had made the comments "weeks ago" and he was now "absolutely onboard" with his colleague.
He said he was trying to distinguish between a cap on net migration and a target of 50,000 highly skilled workers arriving in Britain every year.
'Fine tooth comb'
UKIP's other policies also include:
Introducing a points-based immigration system
Funding 6,000 new jobs for armed forces veterans, in the police, the prison service and at the UK border
Cutting foreign aid by £9bn
Removing stamp duty on the first £250,000 for new homes built on brownfield sites
A cut in business rates for small businesses
The party's head of policy, Suzanne Evans, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme all of the figures had been independently checked, and that it sets a new "gold standard" for manifestos.
"The manifesto that we're releasing today is the only manifesto that is fully costed and has been independently verified.
"We've not just come up with these figures ourselves, we've put our spending plans out to an independent economic think tank, The Centre for Economic and Business Research, and they have been through our figures with a fine tooth comb," she said.
Analysis by Robin Brant, BBC political correspondent
He had the final say on it and there are some things he wanted in it which didn't make it, but the manifesto which Nigel Farage will hold aloft at an Essex hotel is the most important document in his political life.
It represents a moment when UKIP is on the brink. The brink of breaking through. Or the brink of massively disappointing.
For UKIP devotees it will be an exercise in legitimacy mixed with irrelevance.
They don't like the party for its broad range of policies. For the media and the other parties the test will be does it add up, and make sense.
But crucially, for those thinking they may go over to UKIP in three weeks' time, it will be important for one reason.
Nigel Farage will likely feature on or very near the front page and he either is or embodies all that they like about the party.
UKIP has ruled out cutting spending on welfare, raising taxes or increasing borrowing - declaring the party is "anti-austerity".
It says it will fund its pledges by leaving the EU, reducing funding to Scotland and scrapping the HS2 rail link.
Mr Farage said that on issues including immigration and the economy, the largest parties had "repeatedly and knowingly raised the expectations of the public, only to let us down, time and time again".
He added: "In many ways, this is where UKIP came from.
"A feeling that successive governments were no longer representing the will of the British people."
Despite a slight dip in some recent polls, UKIP has been polling ahead of the Liberal Democrats and is hoping to add to the two MPs it gained in by-elections following defections from the Conservatives.
A Conservative spokesman said UKIP's numbers did not "add up", adding: "We all know that Nigel Farage doesn't have a credible plan for Britain - he just makes it up as he goes along."
The Liberal Democrats are launching their manifesto with a pledge of an extra £2.5bn for education in England.
The party said the cash would ensure spending was protected "from cradle to college" and went beyond other parties' commitments on education.
Leader Nick Clegg will say the plans are all about boosting opportunity.
But the Conservatives said the Lib Dems offered "uncertainty for parents" while Labour said Nick Clegg's party had "broken their promises" in government.
The Lib Dems' manifesto launch, in south London, is the last of the three largest Westminster parties after Labour and the Conservatives.
The BBC's assistant political editor Norman Smith said he expected it to be a "minimalist, pared-back" document, with a focus on a few key priorities, after the party was unable to deliver its main commitment on tuition fees from 2010.
In other election news:
UKIP is also launching its manifesto, with a pledge to employ 6,000 former army veterans in the police, prison service and Border Agency and spend 2% of national output on defence
Labour is launching what it calls its women's manifesto, with a pledge to allow working grandparents to share unpaid parental leave
The SDLP, which had three MPs in the last Parliament, is publishing its general election manifesto
Former Cabinet Secretary Lord O'Donnell says civil servants will be preparing for "all sorts of outcomes" to the election, telling the BBC that minority government can be "made to work"
The latest TNS opinion poll gave the Conservatives a two-point lead over Labour while a YouGov poll gave Labour a one-point lead over the Conservatives
The Lib Dems have previously said they would protect the education budget, by ensuring spending rises in line with inflation.
Mr Clegg will now say that once the deficit has been eliminated in 2017-18, funding for two to 19-year-olds would increase in line with economic growth, which was 2.8% over the course of 2014.
Even with pupil numbers taken into account, the party said this increase would ensure the amount of money per child was protected over the course of the Parliament, amounting to an extra £2.5bn.
Analysis by Sean Coughlan, BBC education correspondent
The Liberal Democrats are trying to stake out a claim to be the party that makes education a spending priority, by the promise of an extra £2.5bn.
Their education-friendly image had taken some hard knocks from the tuition fee U-turn and being in a coalition government that frequently clashed with the teachers' unions.
But they have put forward a spending plan which they hope will out-flank both the Conservatives and Labour.
Labour pledged to protect school budgets against inflation, while the Conservatives' offer was to protect per-pupil spending at a time of rising pupil numbers.
The Liberal Democrats' pitch is to combine both - promising to protect per-pupil spending in real terms , including for an extra 460,000 pupils.
But there is a tough warning from the Institute for Fiscal Studies that school costs are rising much faster than inflation and a looming school funding shortage will face whoever wins the election.
It said the cash was the equivalent of 70,000 teachers and 10,000 learning support assistants and amounted to £2.5bn more than Labour and £5bn more than the Conservatives would spend.
Pressure on education budgets is expected to increase in the next five years due to a sharp rise in enrolment in state schools, with the number of pupils under the age of 15 expected to go up by 9% by 2020.
The Conservatives have said they would protect the budget for 5-16 year-olds in cash terms, so that funding rises in line with pupil numbers but not in line with inflation or economic growth.
'Cradle to college'
Labour, on the other hand, has said it would ensure the budget for infants and pupils under the age of 19 increased in line with inflation but not in line with increases in pupil numbers or economic output.
The Lib Dems have said the extra funding will help limit class sizes and increase the availability of one-to-one tuition.
Balance the budget fairly through a mixture of cuts and taxes on higher earners
Increase tax-free allowance to £12,500
Guarantee education funding from nursery to 19 with an extra £2.5bn and qualified teachers in every class
Invest £8bn in the NHS. Equal care for mental & physical health
Five new laws to protect nature and fight climate change
Promising to protect the budget "from cradle to college", Mr Clegg will say: "The manifesto has one simple ambition and word at its heart - opportunity.
"It's a very old, liberal idea, the idea that everybody should be able to live out their life to the full regardless of the circumstances of their birth, regardless of the income of their parents, regardless of where they come from."
The manifesto is also expected to include pledges on balancing the books "fairly" by 2017-18, raising the threshold at which people start paying tax to £12,500 and "parity of esteem" between mental and physical health services in the NHS.
Schools minister David Laws, who helped write the document, said there was "nothing modest" about its commitments and they were underpinned by "sensible and cautious" assumptions about budgets, including a contingency fund in the event of lower-than-expected growth.
He told the BBC that his party was "committed to delivering" its key priorities whatever the outcome of the election, arguing that it had fulfilled the "vast majority" of its pledges from 2010.
UKIP has said its manifesto is "serious and costed"
Mr Clegg told the Guardian that no party would win an outright victory and the Lib Dems would be a "rock of stability" in any prospective coalition or alternative governing arrangement.
A Conservative spokesman highlighted the drop in per-pupil funding during the first phase of the Lib Dem education plan, when the budget would be linked to inflation.
"The Conservatives are the only party who are prepared to protect the money that schools get for each pupil," he added.
Labour said the Lib Dems had "broken their promises and backed the Tories all the way".
UKIP's pledges, also to be unveiled on Wednesday, include an in/out referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union "as soon as possible", a five-year ban on unskilled migrants coming in to the UK and £12bn for the NHS.
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Miss Buckley's disappearance is said to be completely out of character
Police are continuing to search the park where a missing student's handbag was found.
Karen Buckley, 24, from Cork in Ireland, left a Glasgow nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning and went with a man to a flat, where she spent several hours.
She has not been seen since, but her handbag was discovered in the city's Dawsholm Park on Tuesday afternoon.
Officers have said they are "gravely concerned" for her wellbeing.
Miss Buckley's parents have flown to Scotland from their home in Ireland.
Her mother, Marian, told a news conference on Tuesday: "We just want Karen home safely, we are desperate. She is our only daughter, we love her dearly.
"If anybody has any information please come forward, we would dearly appreciate it."
The Sanctuary nightclub is located in the city's west end - an area popular among students
Miss Buckley, whose disappearance is said to be completely out of character, was last seen on CCTV talking to a man outside the Sanctuary nightclub in Dumbarton Road.
The pair travelled in the man's car to his flat in Dorchester Avenue, in the Kelvinside area of the city. It is said that she left the flat at about 04:00 on Sunday and was planning to walk back to her flat in Hill Street, close to the city centre.
The two addresses are about four miles apart.
Police have stressed that the man is helping them with their inquiries, but is not a suspect at this stage.
The police helicopter has also been involved in the search.
A handbag which officers believe belongs to Miss Buckley was found in Dawsholm Park, near Dorchester Avenue, on Tuesday afternoon.
The entrance to the park remained cordoned off on Wednesday morning as dozens of officers continued searching the area.
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: "The search resumed at first light this morning with specialist search officers and air support in the area of Dawsholm Park and the north west of Glasgow."
The spokeswoman said there had been a good response from the public to appeals for help to trace Miss Buckley but has urged people to get in touch if they have any information relating to the investigation.
Miss Buckley moved to Glasgow in February and is a first year occupational therapy student at Glasgow Caledonian University. She was previously a nurse at the Princess Alexandria Hospital in Harlow, Essex.
She arrived at the Sanctuary nightclub with friends at about 23:45 on Saturday and at about 01:00 she told them she was going to the toilet. She failed to return and did not take her jacket.
Her friends have said Miss Buckley had had a few drinks, but was not drunk.
There was a heavy police presence in the park where the student's handbag had been found Dozens of officers are involved in the search for Miss Buckley
Speaking on Tuesday, Det Supt Jim Kerr, from Police Scotland's major investigations team, said: "We've traced the man she was with in Dorchester Avenue. He believes he was intimate with her at his flat consensually in the early hours of Sunday."
The police officer added: "From what we can see, she does not appear to be under duress, there's no signs of a struggle or reluctance on her part to leave the club.
"However, that does not mean that something untoward has happened to her at a later stage."
Miss Buckley is described as white and about 5ft to 5ft 2in tall. She has brown eyes and dark hair which had long black curly extensions in it.
When last seen, she was wearing a black jumpsuit with red high-heeled shoes and was carrying a black handbag.
Despite reports to the contrary, Ms Buckley has not been active on social media since her disappearance.
Ms Buckley spent several hours at Dorchester Avenue before leaving at 04:00 on Sunday A heavy police presence has been maintained in the area surrounding the block of flats
Police are also keen to find out more about a grey car that was seen on the roads between Milngavie and Drymen north of Glasgow between 11:00 and 15:00 on Monday.
Det Supt Kerr said: "The activity of this grey car on the Monday is something that we're a wee bit concerned about. This car has been seen at various locations on these roads and I want to know why."
He added: "We are gravely concerned that Karen has come to some harm, whether that is down to foul play, criminality or she has taken unwell or had an accident is obviously still to be established."
Her father John Buckley, 62, said the disappearance was "so out of character".
He said: "We are extremely concerned for her. We are desperate to get her back and safe with her family - she is our only daughter, we love her dearly and just want her to come home safe and sound."
Written By Unknown on Selasa, 14 April 2015 | 16.50
The Clydesdale Bank has been fined £20.7m by the City regulator for "serious failings" in the way it handled complaints about Payment Protection Insurance (PPI).
The fine is the largest of its type imposed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
As many as 93,000 customers may be entitled to refunds or additional compensation, the FCA announced.
The Clydesdale apologised, and said it had now changed its procedures.
The UK's inflation rate remained at a record low of 0% in March, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Cheaper clothing and footwear, offset by a rise in petrol prices, helped to maintain the rate at 0% for a second month, official figures show.
The figure was the lowest rate of Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation since estimates of the measure began in the late 1980s.
It means the cost of living is broadly the same as it was a year earlier.
However, the ONS said that if the rate of inflation was calculated to two decimal places, prices were 0.01% lower than a year before - a first fall on record for the CPI measure.
One of the main reasons the rate remained broadly unchanged was rising petrol and diesel prices between February and March, the ONS said.
The CPI figure leaves inflation well below the Bank of England's 2% target.
There had been speculation that the CPI rate - as measured to one decimal place - would fall below zero in March, and there remains a possibility that the rate could fall in the coming months.
However, few economists think the UK is at risk of the type of entrenched deflation that Japan has suffered from.
"Inflation should start to pick up in the second half of the year, especially as the downward pressure from lower oil prices eases," said Rain Newton-Smith, director of economics at the CBI business group.
She added that falling prices had benefitted households, and lower oil prices had been good for businesses in general. However, employees of North Sea oil firms had taken a hit from lower petrol prices.
Supermarkets are mounting a fightback, according to the BRC
Supermarkets are mounting a "slow but steady fightback" as new figures indicated a sharp rise in retail sales last month.
Like-for-like sales rose by 3.2% compared with March 2014, according to the survey by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG.
That was the strongest growth since January last year.
However, the period covers the five weeks to 4 April and was flattered by pre-Easter trading.
Total food sales recorded their strongest growth since July 2013 with a 1.8% rise as shoppers stocked up ahead of the Easter break.
However, on a like-for-like basis, food sales fell by 0.4% compared with March last year.
David McCorquodale, KPMG's head of retail, said there were signs of recovery in the grocery sector.
However, he added: "Price deflation continues to dog the sector, and while supermarkets may be selling more, they are pedalling hard to stand still. There is a long way to go before like-for-like food sales are back in positive territory."
The increase for March was the third consecutive month of higher retail sales, and followed a fall in December. Like-for-like sales were up 0.2% in both February and January.
The March numbers also showed that physical stores contributed more to growth than online sales for the first time since August - on a three-month average basis.
Furniture and household appliances provided the second-highest contribution to the rise in retailing, helped by the booming housing market.
Colder weather than in the same period in 2014 meant that clothing sales were subdued last month, particularly for womenswear, as buyers left spring and summer ranges on the racks.
BRC director-general Helen Dickinson said: "Retailers can also be satisfied with the consumer response to their Mother's Day and Easter offerings, but it is important to note that April figures will be impacted by the absence of Easter this year."
Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, said: "Given the importance of consumer spending to the economy, a solid BRC survey for March following on from the very healthy retail sales in February would be reassuring for hopes that GDP growth held up reasonably well in the first quarter."
