Yahoo Finance Return of imperial measures will fuel inflation, warn supermarkets
Supermarkets have warned Boris Johnson that a return to imperial measures would drive up inflation and make the cost of living crisis worse.
Reintroducing measurements in pounds and ounces would be a "distraction" from the country's problems and increase grocers' costs according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), speaking on behalf of the industry's major players.
It came as the head of the National Market Traders Federation dismissed the plans as "nostalgia" and said they would create extra difficulty for his organisation's members.
The Business Department is to launch an official consultation on Friday with the public, business groups and industry to ask whether retailers should be able to sell goods in pounds and ounces rather than metric measurements.
It is understood that officials from the Business Department will assess the economic impact of such changes to the law. The consultation will last 12 weeks.
Mr Johnson, who promised in 2019 that he would usher in “tolerance towards traditional measurements”, is reportedly keen to announce the move to coincide with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Ministers are expected to sell the proposals as an opportunity to embrace post-Brexit freedom, but critics said that the plans were an effort to move the conversation on from the "partygate" scandal following a prolonged polling slump.
The BRC, which represents major supermarkets including Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons, said that updating products’ labels to include imperial measurements would be time-consuming and could push prices up.
Andrea Martinez-Inchausti, assistant director of food, said: “Supermarkets are focusing on delivering the best value for their customers in the face of intense inflationary pressures.
“Introducing new laws to change the way we measure food and drink would both distract from this vital task, and add cost and complexity if existing products are required to be relabelled.”
The BRC also highlighted that manufacturers and shopkeepers are already free to list imperial measures alongside metric ones.
Joe Harrison, head of the market traders' group, said he could not see how the move would be beneficial as most members of the public have grown up operating on metric measurements.
Mr Harrison, who can still recall when the country was introduced to the metric system, said he believes it is now “too far gone” to switch back to the imperial system.
He noted that younger generations grew up with metric measurements and so it doesn't make sense to switch back now.
Describing the shift as a "hassle", he said: “I don't think it would be beneficial as most members of the public don't operate on imperial measurements."
Mr Harrison added: “For what purpose? Seems like it would just be hanging onto the past, nostalgia.”
Britain formally introduced the metric system in 1965 although the process of “metrification” was already underway in some industries.
The European Union initially expected Britain to phase out the use of traditional units alongside the metric system but removed the requirement in 2009.
However some traders continued to exclusively sell goods in pounds and ounces, which in 2001 led to the prosecution of a group of fruit and veg traders dubbed “metric martyrs”.
One 63-year old woman, Janet Devers, vowed at the time to continue trading at the stall set up by her mother at the height of the Blitz in 1940.
There are only a limited number of exemptions to the use of metric units in British law. Beer, cider and milk is sold in pint measures.
Mr Harrison’s views were echoed by Mary Beard, a history professor at Cambridge University, who described the debate between metric and imperial as “a bit of a nostalgia war”.
Speaking to the BBC's Today programme, she said: “The basic principle is that in this thing we are all bilingual. People don't just use one system.
“When we go to a market stall to buy our vegetables, it’s just a different way of saying we want a little or medium amount or a lot, that’s all they really are.”
