Campaigners fighting EU plans to remove imperial measures have claimed a victory for pounds and ounces.
Britain's traditional imperial measures had been set a deadline of 2009 to change to metric measures, but that has now been scrapped following a change of heart at the European Commission.
Both the Metric Martyrs campaign group and the Conservative Party and have claimed victory in the battle to keep Britain imperial.
Conservative industry spokesman, Giles Chichester MEP, said that he had received confirmation from the European Commission's Industry Commissioner Gunther Verheugen that dual marking of goods in imperial and metric will "continue indefinitely".
He said that following lobbying by the Conservatives, Mr Verheugen agreed that it was good news for British and European industry to maintain imperial measurements as it would make selling to the US easier for firms.
Mr Chichester said: "After saving the crown on the British pint, I am happy the Conservatives have persuaded the Commission that it is good not only for international business but for the British people that traditional measurements are kept."
He continued: "I just hope there won't be any more need for Metric Martyrs and that the Government will avoid forcing metrication down the public's throat."
A spokeswoman for the commissioner said that during recent consultation, respondents successfully made the case to be allowed to use imperial measures - "supplementary indications" - alongside metric beyond 2009.
The Metric Martyrs campaign was set up to highlight the case of Sunderland greengrocer Steven Thoburn who was prosecuted for selling his produce by the pound. Mr Thoburn was convicted at Sunderland Magistrates' Court six years ago of using scales that could not weigh in metric units.
He died in March 2004, aged 39, just days after learning his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights had been rejected.
Metric Martyrs campaign director, and former fishmonger, Neil Herron, has called for a posthumous pardon for Mr Thoburn, saying: "This is a monumental victory for the Metric Martyrs and all who have supported the campaign.
"It has been people power that has forced the European Commission and the Government to abandon the enforced metrication programme. We have saved the pint, the mile, the yard, and the foot, as well as pounds and ounces."
1 comment:
Still as good as this sounds, I still would not trust the EU an inch(or what ever that is in metric measurements)
We have recently lost the crown stamp on pint glassses and of late our police forces seem to obcessing on pushing for plastic glasses on health & safety grounds.
So we may in time lose the tradional pint glass, and whats the odds that they will only produce these new safe plastic glasses in metric size and so we lose the pint through the back door.
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