The House of Lords briefing on the King’s Speech 2023 was published on 1 November 2023. It included a section on imperial units, which suggests that the Government may pursue the restoration of imperial units as part of their legislative programme during the next year. Despite facing considerable opposition to their plans to bring back imperial units during the last year, they are prepared to disregard public opinion and the views of key stakeholders to impose their plans to restore imperial units and entrench the British measurement mess. Why do they think they will succeed this time when they failed last time?
Over the last year, the Government tried to abolish all EU-derived laws by the end of 2023 with a sunset date in the Retained EU Law Bill where these laws would automatically expire unless a minister decided to save them. About 4000 laws were identified that could have disappeared and included several items of weights and measures legislation. As a result of strong opposition from important stakeholders, the Bill was amended so that most of these laws were retained, including all W&M legislation.
The Government held their “Choice on units of measurement: markings and sales” consultation about bringing back imperial units for trade and commerce. This consultation closed on 26 August 2022 and received over 100 000 responses. So far, there has been no final government response to the consultation, suggesting this is something they would rather forget. This is not surprising given the strong opposition from important stakeholders.
The Government has still not got the message that there is no widespread desire to go back to imperial units.
The “King’s Speech 2023: Economic affairs, business and trade” House of Lords briefing is split into three main sections:
- Economic outlook and policy
- Legislation on business and economic affairs
- International trade
The second section on business and economic affairs contains seven subsections. One of them is units of measurement. It mentions the plans to bring back imperial units and how the consultation will inform Government policy to implement these plans. The Government sees the restoration of imperial units as a benefit of Brexit.
Spreading the measurement mess to the marketplace will undermine price transparency and consumer protection. This is NOT a benefit at all. It is incompatible with the system of unit pricing, which depends on the consistent use of one system to enable consumers to make direct price comparisons. This system is the metric system. The system of unit pricing uses millilitres and litres for volumes and grams and kilograms for weight. The Government openly acknowledges this when they say that “consistency in measurement supports fair trade and empowers consumers”. Consistency in measurement depends on the use of a single system of measurement. It is a contradiction to support consistency in measurement and allow multiple systems of measurement to be used.
You can find the House of Lords briefing on the King’s Speech 2023 at https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/kings-speech-2023-economic-affairs-business-and-trade/.
Metric Views 
Any attempt to return to Imperial is sheer madness. It cannot and will not last even if implemented.
In fact, what is required for labeling on products destined for sale in the EU?
Does the EU even allow any indications on product labels other than metric? If not, what are British businesses supposed to do for their product labels when they want to export product to the EU?
And how does this affect contracts, services, etc. that involve companies based in the EU?
Sounds like a totally daft proposal to me. It seems like a huge step backwards and a total dead end. 😦
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So more proof, it any was needed, that the current government is continuing to ignore the electorate and experts in the field, instead doing as they’re told by the old fogeys and ex Etonians in the back rooms of Conservative headquarters.
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Wow this is amazing, I had no idea that the government was considering the idea of going backwards on weights & measures. That is simply mind blowing how short sighted and insular that ‘logic’ is.
The idea that reverting to a separate ‘legacy’ system of weights and measures for the UK would somehow improve our business capabilities to export UK products globally (to the 195 countries in the world that use metric?!), is…well, lets say, a fairly flawed logic. Seriously, who comes up with this stuff? That is the complete opposite of helping UK businesses. We shot ourselves in the foot with Brexit, no need to tie our hands behind our back too.
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You might point out to the UK government that this would not even improve ability to export to the US. Our labeling law generally requires dual labeling, SI and Customary net contents. On units of volume, Imperial and Customary differ, and Imperial gallons (or subdivisions) would not even be acceptable as half of the declaration. (Canada generally ignores our Customary declaration as long as the metric is there and correct.)
I also have to point out that our dual labeling requirement has been a failure in terms of getting the American public more familiar with metric. Most are “metric blind.” A proposal to allow permissive-metric-only (make the Customary optional) has been proposed by NIST for years, but never taken up in Congress. Based on our failure to metricate, my advice is oppose the idiocy.
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The Lords briefing paper said “The government said in the consultation that its review of units of measurement was “announced as part of its plans to capitalise on the benefits of Brexit” and that, having left the EU, “the UK can take back control of its measurement system and take decisions in the best interests of British businesses and consumers”.
From whom does the Government intend to take back control? What do they mean by the term “measurement system”?
If they meant “units of measurement”, then these are controlled by the International Bureau for Weights and Measures, a body in which the UK participates on equal terms with all other member states who have signed the Treaty of the Metre. This organisation facilitates the harmonisation of units of measure world-wide.
If on the other hand they were referring to legislation related to the taking of measurements, then then there are recommended legal from the International Organisation for legal metrology, an organisation of which the UK Government is a member.
If they are talking about EU regulations, then they would do well to remember that the EU regulations are merely copies of documents produced by these organisations.
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I knew something like this was going to happen and posted comments to the effect not too long ago. Of course it hasn’t happened yet and some miracle could happen at the last minute, but I’m doubtful.
I hope any business affected refuses to obey any changes in the law and continues to use metric units in their operations or simply close up the company and move outside England. Maybe a couple million unemployed starving citizens could be catagorised as a benefit of Brexit.
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Brexiteers kept talking about “global Britain” as the main benefit of leaving the EU.
What is so global about Imperial units????
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Well, if the Imperial units come back this BBC article that uses “acres” only (despite the original source info almost certainly being in “hectares”) will feel right at home! So sad!
https://www.bbc.com/news/67306304
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Ezra,
According to Wikipedia, the estate covers 20 km².
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacienda_Nápoles
5500 acres equals 22.25 km². It seems people like Graeme Baker took it upon himself to make the exact 20 km² value turn into an exact overstated acre value, maybe to give the impression to all English speaking readers that the land was measured out in FFU. Fake News at its best.
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After reviewing the link provided in the article I took the opportunity to read the section on Weights and Measures and have come to the conclusion there isn’t going to be a total return to imperial. We know that the recent government attempts to revert fully to imperial have met with a huge opposition and failure.
From the link:
“with the evidence gathered intended to “inform the government’s plans to provide a choice on weights and measures for consumer transactions”. ”
From this statement it seems they are not going to force a reversion but a choice and only in the areas affecting consumers, such as the marketplace. Making it legal for market shops to chose what units they want to use in the sale of their products and services.
“While consistency in measurement supports fair trade and empowers consumers, there has been consistent opposition to the current law on units of measurement by some traders and consumers who consider it to be overly prescriptive and an unnecessary restriction on freedom of choice.”
From this statement I gather it is the intent of the proposers of this legislation. to permit market traders to legally use pounds and ounces in the sale of their products as this is the only sector of the economy that I’m aware of where issues and complaints have arisen. In other words legalise the status quo.
If this happens, I’m sure no pushing for this change has considered or cares about the resulting chaos that will occur. It may only be those already resisting metrication that this will affect. Amending the law to allow pound scales will require pound scales be available for purchase or existing scales have a unit selection button. What if there are so few that chose to purchase pound scales can’t find them available or available at an affordable cost?
Then there is the issue of calibration. This will this require inspectors to purchase a full set of imperial calibration masses and if so, at what cost? Inspecting services and scale companies will have to pass on the additional costs to the pound users and this itself will result in another uproar. Or will it be possible to calibrate a pound scale with existing gram masses?
All because a bunch of Luddites can’t move into the 21-st century.
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All very good points made above. I was under the impression that customers could still ask for goods in imperial units if they so wished and that it was the responsibility of the seller to ensure that the correct amount was weighed out and sold. This is already legal. If the proposed legislation is to raise the ‘status’ of imperial units from supplementary indications to main pricing units, that is a massive step backwards and a blow to price transparency (if different traders use different units of measurement) and consumer protection. Does the government really want to reduce consumer protection in this way? For what purpose? Just to show that it has the power to do so? I think we know that already.
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e really need first of all to see what actually appears in the King’s Speech. This will be on Tuesday 7 November. Shortly after the King’s speech, the Leader of the House [of Commons] presents a list of the intended government legislation for the forthcoming session. Once both speeches have been made (or in the case of the Leader of the House’s statement, a written statemetn is published) are we in any position to make any comment.
It would be reckless of the Government to announce any legislation based on the consultation document before the results of the consultation are actually published (unless they already know what it is likely to say). Moreover, even once legislation is announced it needs to actually be passed.
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In hius speech, the King made a reference to “taking advantage of the opportunies offered as a result of the UK leaving the European Union” [my paraphrase]. Other thna that, he made no reference to anything that, as far as I could see, affected metrication.
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I don’t care if Imperial Units are brought back, I’m never going to use them, ever. I refuse to bow down to imperialism and imperialists..
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I have read the report on the Kings Speech. It is split into an introduction by the Prime Minister (8 pages), the Kings Speech itself (4 pages) and outlines of the bills that are mentioned in the speech (60 pages). It can be found at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/654a21952f045e001214dcd7/The_King_s_Speech_background_briefing_notes.pdf
On BREXIT, the Prime Minister said “We will continue securing the benefits of Brexit, introducing the Trade Bill so we can confirm our membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership – a huge trading pact with a combined GDP of £12 trillion …”. (page 5)
On BREXIT, the King said “My Ministers will take steps to make the economy more competitive, taking advantage of freedoms afforded by the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union. A bill will be brought forward to promote trade and investment with economies in the fastest growing region in the world [Trade (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) Bill]. My Ministers will continue to negotiate trade agreements with dynamic economies, delivering jobs and growth in the United Kingdom”. The text in square brackets were not actually spoken by the King, but were included to indicate the context of His Majesty’s statement. (page 12)
Why therefore did the Lord’s briefing paper make mention of imperial units? It might have been a red herring or it might have been to see public reaction. Either way, there was no mention in either the King’s Speech or the Prime Minister’s briefing. In the same way, there had been hints about the rules on effluent discharge being relaxed, but these had such a thumbs down from the press and the public that nothing was said about them either.
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Seeing that the consultation ended about 15 months ago and is still yet to be published and it doesn’t look like the authors of the consultation ever plan to publish it, can someone from the outside request the release of the results via the “Freedom of Information act”?
Is this a Possibility?
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Here is a fun video from an American who moved to the UK about why he has converted himself to using metric (except when driving):
Yet another example (besides Ireland and Canada) of why it is so important to convert road signs to metric!
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