An Asda boss has slammed proposals for imperial measurements as "backwards" and said it would make shopping harder for anyone under the age of 40.
It comes after the government announced it would launch a post-Brexit review next week on how and where traders can sell produce using imperial measurements. Lord Rose of Monewden, chairman of the supermarket giant, has criticised the plans, saying they were "utter nonsense" and that they will be "costly" to put in place.
According to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the review aims to restore "common sense" and get rid of "overbearing EU rules". Shops are currently legally required to use metric units when selling packaged or loose goods, following the EU weights and measures directive which came into force in 2000, although displaying weights in imperial as well has always been legal.
Read more: Asda to give big discounts on shopping depending on your job title
Britain's traditional weighing measures can still be shown alongside the price in grams and kilograms, except in a limited number of cases. A consultation, expected to last 12 weeks, will look at how to change those stipulations and aims to give traders more freedom to choose how they price fresh items. Traditionally, fruit and veg have always been one of the key items sold by weight at supermarkets.
However, the move has come under fire with Tory peer and Asda boss Lord Rose of Monewden warnng that the idea of returning to imperial weights and measures is “complete and utter nonsense” and would “add cost” for those making the transition. He also said that the change would only please “a small minority who hark for the past” and said it amounted to going “backwards”, the M.E.N reports.
Asked if he welcomed a return to the use of imperial measurements, he told Times Radio: “The only polite word I can think of for your programme is, I’ve never heard such nonsense in my life. I mean, we have got serious problems in the world and we’re now saying let’s go backwards. Does anybody in this country below the age of about 40 know how many ounces there are in a pound?
“Are we going to go down to the supermarket and say, ‘I’ll have a pound-and-a-half please, or one pound, four ounces of this or that’. We’re doing it just to actually please a small minority of people who hark for the past. It’s complete and utter nonsense and it will add cost to those people who have to put it into place."
Do you think imperial measurements should return? Let us know in the comments section below.
Additionally, new guidance published on Friday will also help businesses apply the Crown symbol to pint glasses. British pint glasses intended for measuring and serving beer used to be marked with a Crown stamp as a declaration that the measure was accurate.
However, after a EU directive came into force in 2006, they were required to display an EU-wide “CE” marking to show they were conforming with the union’s regulations in the UK. Glasses which already have the Crown stamp did not have to be taken out of circulation, and those with the EU-wide marking were technically allowed to display the Crown too, as long as it did not obscure the new symbol.
From 2023, glasses entering the market in England, Scotland and Wales will have to carry the new UKCA marking to show they are conforming with legal requirements. Businesses can decide whether to apply the Crown symbol, which would be purely decorative.
Read next:
