Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member Michael Saunders said on Monday that inflation and key measures of longer-term inflation expectations are uncomfortably high, reported Reuters. External cost increases may exacerbate the recent rise in inflation expectations, Saunders added. 

"I put considerable weight on risks that, unless checked by monetary policy, domestic capacity and inflation pressures would probably be greater and more persistent than the central forecast," Saunders said in a speech at the Resolution Foundation think tank. "As a result, my preference has been to move relatively quickly to a more neutral monetary policy stance."