According to a Conservative minister, the UK government’s plan to return imperial measurements will ‘bring British culture back.’
When selling packed or loose items, shops and traders must currently utilise metric quantities such as grammes and kilogrammes, while the imperial equivalents can also be shown.
Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, is set to make the announcement on Friday, in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
It will pave the way for the usage of pounds, ounces, feet, and inches to become more widespread in the United States.
Technology minister Chris Philip told Sky News that the initiative would “return a little bit of our national heritage and culture to the retail shelf.”
Opposition MPs and members of Johnson’s own Conservative Party have slammed the move.
Angela Eagle, a Labour MP, termed it a “pathetic” attempt to “weaponize nostalgia,” especially at a time when the cost of living crisis is wreaking havoc on families.
The reintroduction of this outdated measurement system is part of a larger ‘bonfire’ of EU rules that remain in UK law.
“This isn’t a Brexit-style liberty.” It’s a load of crap “Alicia Kearns, a Tory MP, declared that “not one” of her voters wanted imperial measurements.
Tobias Ellwood, a senior Tory MP and Johnson critic, said it is far from the “visionary, progressive” thinking that his party demands.
Traders can display imperial measurements alongside metric counterparts under EU guidelines that went into effect in 2000, but the imperial measurements must not be more prominent.
There are concerns that those under the age of 40 in the UK, who are accustomed to using metric units, will struggle with yards or ounces, putting further strain on businesses.
The UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) issued the following statement: “This is a critical step in regaining control of our national regulations, and we will consult to ensure that we have the best evidence to base our decisions on.
“In due course, as part of the normal policy-making process, an evaluation of potential economic impact will be carried out,” they added.
What exactly are imperial measurements?
The Weights and Measures Acts of 1824 and 1878 codified imperial measurements in the United Kingdom.
Inches, feet, yards, and miles are imperial length and distance units, while grains, ounces, quarters, stones, pounds, and tonnes are imperial weight and mass units.
In recent years, the United Kingdom has employed a mix of metric and imperial measurements.
For example, beer is served in pints and roads are measured in miles. Other items, such as a kilogramme of rice or litres of milk, are measured in metric units, as they are in the EU.
In the metric system, imperial measures are represented by the following examples.
2.54 centimetres = 1 inch
0.3048 metre Equals 1 foot
1 yard is equal to 91.44 centimetres.
28.3495231 grammes = 1 ounce
0.45359237 kilos = 1 pound
1016.05 kilos Equals 1 tonne
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When will the United Kingdom become imperial?
So far, the administration has stated that it will only consider whether traders will be able to revert to imperial measures.
The government plans to issue a consultation on the usage of imperial measures on June 4, the Queen’s Jubilee, according to the BEIS.
The consultation will last for a period of 12 weeks.
Johnson is reportedly plotting a ‘bonfire’ of EU laws to bolster support among Brexit-supporting MPs and voters.
