Retailers have warned that Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit effort to return to imperial measurements will result in even higher pricing for already struggling Britons.
The government is due to start a survey this week on the extent to which Britain should adopt imperial measurements after leaving the EU, such as pounds and ounces.
Pub proprietors will be advised how to serve pints in glasses adorned with a Crown as part of the plans, which coincide with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
The earlier EU requirement for a ‘CE’ mark, adopted in 2004, was said to have essentially resulted in the elimination of the Crown sign from pint glasses.
The move back towards imperial measurements, which the UK moved away from under EU rules, has been welcomed by Brexiteers.
But industry groups warned that new laws to change how the UK measures food and drink could cause already rocketing prices to increase further.
They expressed fears this could worsen the cost-of-living crisis, due to the expense of having to relabel products.
Andrea Martinez-Inchausti, assistant director of food at the British Retail Consortium, said: ‘Supermarkets are focusing on delivering the best value for their customers in the face of intense inflationary pressures.
‘Introducing new laws to change the way we measure food and drink would both distract from this vital task, and add cost and complexity if existing products are required to be relabelled.’
The BRC also pointed out that manufacturers and retailers are already free to list imperial measures alongside metric ones.
Joe Harrison, the chief executive of the National Market Traders Federation, questioned whether a return to imperial measures would be ‘beneficial’.
He told the Daily Telegraph the move would be a ‘hassle’ and suggested that most members of the public no longer operate on imperial measurements.
The Chartered Trading Standards Institute warned against any move that would ‘bamboozle’ the public.
Chief executive John Herriman said: ‘At a time when consumers and businesses are already feeling the pinch from higher prices and inflation, it is really important that any proposed measures don’t bamboozle the public on value for money and the prices of everyday items, or add unnecessary costs and confusion to business.
‘The reintroduction of imperial measures would require significant and sustainable investment into metrology, additions to the national curriculum, and a campaign to educate the general public.
‘At a time when the vast majority of the rest of the world is working in metric it would also seem counter-intuitive to move back to imperial measures as, post-EU exit, we trade with a greater number of international countries as Global Britain.’
Government minister Chris Philp this week hailed a return towards imperial measurements as ‘allowing a bit of our national culture and heritage back onto the shop shelf’.
But the plans are not universally popular among Tory MPs.
Alicia Kearns, MP for Rutland and Melton, described the proposals as a ‘nonsense’ and disputed whether they were a ‘Brexit freedom’.
She said: ‘Not one constituent, ever, has asked for this.’
Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the House of Commons’ Defence Committee and a critic of the PM, claimed Mr Johnson was trying to ‘shore up and chase a slice off the electorate’ with the plans.
‘There will be some people in our party which will like this nostalgic policy in the hope that it’s enough to win the next election,’ he told Sky News.
‘But this is not the case. This is not one-nation Conservative thinking that is required to appeal beyond our base.
‘It’s far from the inspirational, visionary progressive thinking that we require. And it fits into a pattern I am afraid of micro-announcements that are increasingly thrown out there, which actually is sowing further discontent with with more MPs.’