Prime Minister Boris Johnson is looking to revive use of pounds, yards and ounces to mark queen’s Platinum Jubilee
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly plans to restore use of imperial measurements to mark Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, potentially shoring up support from pro-Brexit voters in the wake of his Partygate scandal.
Johnson is expected to announce that British shops will be free to sell their goods by imperial measures, such as pounds and ounces, for the first time in decades, the UK’s Daily Mirror newspaper reported on Saturday. The European Union’s weights and measures directive went into force in 2000, requiring traders to use metric units, such as kilograms and liters.
Nearly four years ago, voters had expressed their desire to leave the EU through the Brexit referendum. The UK voted out of the EU on January 2020. The EU’s metric directive represented an overreaching EU intrusion in British lives, especially among the conservatives. Shops which continued to list their merchandise in imperial dimensions were ordered to show the metric equivalents such as grams or kilograms.
“As the British people have been happy to use both imperial and metric measurements in their daily life it is good for the government to reflect that now we are free to change our regulations accordingly,”According to the Daily Mirror, a Government insider.
Johnson called for the revival of imperial units during his election campaign in 2019. “new era of generosity and tolerance”Traditional measurement. He called the usage of pounds and/or ounces an “anonymous measurement”. “ancient liberty.”
The 70-year anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne apparently marks the sort of occasion that Johnson wanted to set the mood for his announcement. The Platinum Jubilee will be celebrated across the UK – featuring street parties, a parade and a royal pageant, among other events – over a four-day bank holiday from June 2 through June 5.
Also, this jubilee arrives at a crucial time for the PM. It is because more than 12 government parties were in Whitehall and Downing Street during Covid-19 lockdowns. Brits also are suffering from the worst inflation in 40 years, and a poll last week showed that only 24% of voters see Johnson’s Tories as the best party to handle the crisis.
Other countries which still use imperial measurement are Liberia, Myanmar and the US.
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