B R I T I S H

W E I G H T S

&

M E A S U R E S

ASSOCIATION

2 October 1998

Paddy Ashdown has adopted as official Liberal Democrat policy the repeal of criminal law sanctions against the use of imperial weights and measures. He has stolen a march on the Conservatives. Now that the most Europhile political party has turned against the compulsory imposition of the metric system to the total exclusion of pounds and ounces, feet and inches and pints and gallons, what is Tory policy?

It was the Conservative government that, at the behest of the European Commission, slipped in the law which makes using traditional British weights and measures illegal. The British Weights and Measures Association, however, has obtained expert legal advice which questions whether outlawing imperial measures violates article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights relating to freedom of expression.

Surveys show that the public is overwhelmingly in favour of retaining our customary system of weights and measures. Ninety MPs signed Gwyneth Dunwoody’s Early Day Motion against criminal penalties for selling apples by the pound, or carpets by the square yard.

The occasion of the Conservative conference gives the new leader an opportunity to match Paddy Ashdown’s dramatic support for our popular system of measurement. Will William Hague put the Tories at the forefront of the growing opposition to the metric monopoly?

For further information CONTACT: Mr Vivian Linacre, BWMA Director