If there’s such a thing as an inflation quota, has Britain already exceeded it?

Andrew Bailey has warned that inflation must be crushed and says interest rates could stay high for longer than currently predicted. Photograph: Frank Augstein/AP

What if the UK has used up all its inflation allowance for the whole decade?

This question assumes there is an optimum level of inflation – a 2% average – and that the UK has already used its entire allocation for the 2020s.