Swift effect won't stop rate cuts, but service costs will

Taylor Swift is a peerless performer. This has made her an economic force as well as a musical one, which brings us neatly into the latest data on Britain's vexatious prices.

- JAMES MOORE

They rose by an annual 2 per cent in June. That may not seem so bad, and it is line with the Bank of England’s target, but the number was worse than the 1.9 per cent economists had hoped for.

Hotel rooms were among the chief villains of the piece. The restaurants and hotels category posted a 6.2 per cent rise and room rates were highlighted by Grant Fitzner, the chief economist of the Office for National Statistics, as a particular blackspot.

June was, of course, when a certain massive tour landed in the UK, pushing up demand for places to stay close to where the world’s biggest star was taking the stage – Edinburgh, Liverpool, Cardiff and London. Hoteliers have also been struggling to find staff, translating into higher wages and room rates.

Those in London will be drooling because there is another run of sold-out Wembley shows at the tail end of August to fatten their coffers. And Bruce Springsteen is due here, too. The people attending Swift’s shows will surely reckon it worth the financial pain they endured. My daughter’s joyful response to the Eras tour speaks to that. And here’s the thing: this is a nonrecurring phenomenon that shouldn’t overly worry the Bank of England’s rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).