Sunak axes plan to return to imperial measures

In a quiet announcement tucked away over the festive period, the government announced a public consultation had revealed a resounding public preference for the metric system, leaving Boris Johnson’s “ancient liberty” promise on the shelf.

The move has been attacked by former ‘Brexit opportunities’ minister Jacob Rees-Mogg as being “typical of the rather bureaucratic and dull approach” of Sunak’s government.

The consultation, launched under Boris Johnson’s premiership with much fanfare, drew a strong response, with 98.7% of respondents calling for the continued use of metric units. The emphatic rejection of pints, pounds and stone is likely to come as a relief to businesses, worried about the cost and complexity of a dual system, and scientists concerned about potential setbacks in international collaboration.

Although it was still legal to price goods in pounds and ounces within the European Union, it had to be displayed less prominently than the price in grams and kilograms. This led to a famous legal case in 2001 in which a Sunderland market trader – so-called ‘Metric Martyr’ Steven Thoburn – was convicted after being caught by trading standards officers who went undercover to buy 34p worth of bananas weighed on imperial scales.

Johnson invoked Thoburn’s name when he promised that when Britain left the EU he would bring back the “ancient liberty” of allowing shops to sell goods in imperial measurements. Last year, to coincide with the Queen’s platinum jubilee, he introduced a consultation to bring back imperial measurement as the first step towards changing the law.

But the plan is now dead after ministers concluded that the “appetite was not there” and that people overwhelmingly preferred the simplicity of the metric system.

Rees-Mogg said: “It is hard to see why this harmless little measure is not being implemented, especially as our largest trading partner, the United States, still uses imperial units.” (The UK’s largest trading partner is actually the EU, which deals in metric measurements.) “It is typical of the rather bureaucratic and dull approach this government likes to take.”

In one sop to Brexiteers, however, from today shoppers will however be able to buy wine by the the pint, with vintners free to sell prepackaged still and sparkling in 568ml pint measures.

Enterprise minister Kevin Hollinrake said: “Our exit from the EU was all about moments just like this, where we can seize new opportunities and provide a real boost to our great British wineries and further growing the economy.”