On 19 March 2018, Britain and the European Union agreed to a transition period to avoid a “cliff edge” Brexit next year.
Buried deep in the text of the transition agreement documentation is a commitment from the UK to return to the imperial system of measurements immediately following Brexit.
The City of Edinburgh Council’s Chief Brexit Strategist, Roman Cable has confirmed the Council support for the return to the imperial system.
He said : “This is ground-breaking. The return to the imperial system will bring huge benefits to the education system and to a whole range of businesses throughout the city and of course across Scotland”.
“Children have it very easy with the metric system. They have become good at 10 times multiplication. A return to the imperial system will ensure that all children will become fluent in a range of other multiplication tables. As many of your readers will know there are 12 inches to a foot, three feet in a yard, 22 yards in a chain and, as you may remember 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet in a mile. These new computations will stretch young minds.
“Businesses involved in the printing and packaging industries will see a whole new spurt of business as companies change their packaging to comply with the new Imperial System. Computers, phones and point-of-sale cash registers will all have to be changed. It brings a ton of new business opportunities.”
The United Kingdom completed its partial transition to the metric system in 1995, with some imperial units still legally mandated for certain applications such as draught beer and road signs.
Vehicles sold in the UK still display speed in miles per hour. Racecourses measure distances in miles and furlongs. A spokesman for the local racecourse commented : “It won’t make any difference. It’s not a big hurdle for us. I am sure it will not be law for long.”
Leading Brexit proponent, Jambes Croggoe has told The Edinburgh Reporter that the move back to the 19th Century Imperial System is about taking back control.
He said : “Great Britain needs its own weights and measures suitable for its transition to a new bold global trading nation. Buying and selling in stones, bushels and gallons will return the country to core British values. We never abandoned the pint and the mile so now it is time to return all of the units we surrendered to the EU.”
The imperial system was first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824. The system covers all units of measurement including length, volume, weight and areas. The old system of weigh will bring back the pound which is made up of 16 ounces, 14 pounds (abbreviated as lb) make up a stone and 8 stone make a hundredweight.
A spokesman for the Scottish Federation of Haberdashers, Drapers and Cobblers said: “I really cannot fathom why they are doing this. It will cause mayhem among our members.”
