Shoppers hoist High Street sales

BRITISH retail sales soared in October as spend-happy shoppers hit the High Street in droves.

Hallowe'en and Guy Fawkes night helped a mini-boom in party snacks and drinks, helping the overall increase of 0.6% on September, double City expectations.

Adam Law, economist at Barclays Capital, said: 'With household spending galloping ahead, we really don't think the Bank of England needs to be too worried about how consumers can weather future interest rate rises.'

He predicted rates, now 3.75%, would rise in December or January, and would be 5% by February 2005.

Meanwhile, Bank Governor Mervyn King said the monetary policy committee was alert to the risk to consumers of rising rates, particularly with large debts already run up by many households. But he told ministers on the Treasury Select Committee it was important to look at the whole economy when setting rates.