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| Lord Howe: “Weights and measures are in a mess. Litres for petrol and fizzy drinks, pints for beer and milk" |
Miles, pints and ounces should be abandoned in favour of a fully metric system
because visitors to the Olympics will think Britain is living in its
“imperial past”, a former Tory chancellor has said.
Lord Howe of Aberavon, who served in Baroness Thatcher’s cabinet, called on
ministers to end the “deeply confusing shambles” of using a mixture of
metric and imperial measures.
He said the lack of any attempt by the Government to clarify the arrangements
was the “most glaring omission” from the Queen’s Speech.
During debate on the speech in the House of Lords, he said: “Weights and
measures are in a mess. Litres for petrol and fizzy drinks, pints for beer
and milk, metres and kilometres for athletics and the Ordnance Survey, miles
per gallon for cars, the metric system for school, still pounds and ounces
for the market.
“This muddle does matter. It increases cost, confuses shoppers, leads to
serious misunderstandings, causes accidents, confuses our children’s
education and, quite bluntly, puts us all to shame.”
Lord Howe said he was responsible for metrication as consumer affairs minister
in the early 1970s, while as a “penny-saving chancellor of the exchequer”
from 1979 he had readily accepted the abolition of the Metrication Board.
The country had been “dithering” on the issue for 150 years and that had led to a split between a “metrically literate elite and a rudderless and bewildered majority”. He added: “The only solution is to complete the changeover to metric as swiftly and as cleanly as possible.”
The country had been “dithering” on the issue for 150 years and that had led to a split between a “metrically literate elite and a rudderless and bewildered majority”. He added: “The only solution is to complete the changeover to metric as swiftly and as cleanly as possible.”
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