Blog: Brits cheer as EU gives in on metric

Dean Best | 11 September 2007

“A victory for the common man against the madness of Brussels”. That was how one observer greeted the news today (11 September) that the UK will be allowed to continue using imperial measurements.

Local campaigners have fought a very vocal campaign against the “right” to continue to use the pound, the pint and the ounce.

After years of rancor against what many in the UK regarded as a misguided dictat from Brussels, the European Commission has ditched plans to force metric measures on the Brits.

“There is no good reason why these imperial measures should not continue to be used and we've decided to enshrine this fact in EU law,” said Günter Verheugen, European Commission vice president responsible for enterprise and industry.

The EU finally realised that the UK love for the pound and ounce would not affect intra-EU trade – in fact, one could say that the use of imperial measures actually helps in trade with the US.

No doubt many Brits will be raising a pint to the news tonight…