Christmas shopping was cheaper in 2005 than in 2004 even though there was less discounting, the UK's leading retailing lobby group said today. In its monthly assessment of high street prices, the British Retail Consortium said its monthly shop price index showed overall prices down 0.64 pct in December from the previous year. In November, prices fell an annual 0.80 pct. "Shop prices in December remained lower than in December 2004, despite less pre-Christmas discounting due to retailers' planning stock levels carefully," said Kevin Hawkins, the BRC's director general. A more detailed look at the data showed that the price of non-food items showed a year-on-year decline for the seventh consecutive month. Non-food prices are now 1.41 pct lower than last year. Food prices however were up just 0.59 pct on December 2004, similar to the 0.53 pct in November which was the lowest year-on-year increase in the last 12 months. Overall, shop prices in December fell back by 0.47 pct from November, with non-food prices down 0.55 pct and food prices 0.29 pct lower.