LONDON- Sterling shed more than half a percent in early trading on Monday after another Bank of England policymaker said at the weekend he would vote for an interest rate cut later this month unless economic data improved significantly.

Policymaker Gertjan Vlieghe's comments on Sunday were the latest sign that the BoE is concerned about weakness in the British economy and the need to act soon.

Governor Mark Carney, who steps down in March, surprised markets last Thursday by saying that the BoE could cut interest rates if the economic weakness seen in late 2019 persists into 2020.

"We have seen a steady drumbeat of rate cut talk from BOE policymakers, and for once fundamental factors are trumping Brexit noises behind the pound's decline," said Lee Hardman, a currency strategist at MUFG in London.

The pound fell 0.6% to as low as $1.2985, its weakest since Dec. 27. Against the euro sterling dropped 0.5% to 85.58 pence, also a more than two-week low.

Since Carney's comments last week, the pound has weakened more than 1% against both the dollar and the euro.

Policymaker Silvana Tenreyro sounded a similar note on Friday, saying the economy was more likely to undershoot than overshoot the BoE's last forecast from November, the latest version of which will be published alongside the BoE's next rate decision on Jan. 30.

Britain's economy lost momentum after the 2016 Brexit referendum and slowed to a crawl in late 2019, although tentative signs of a recovery appeared after Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservatives won an unexpectedly big majority in a Dec. 12 election. 

Data this week will be a big driver for the pound with monthly gross domestic product figures and industrial output data due shortly.

(Reporting by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Saikat Chatterjee; editing by Larry King) ((th