The Daily Telegraph

Shoppers want fruit and veg in pounds and ounces

- By Christophe­r Hope CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPOND­ENT

MINISTERS are under pressure to allow shops to sell meat, fruit and vegetables in pounds and ounces before Britain leaves the European Union.

Customers have been asking shop owners if they can order groceries weighed in pounds and ounces.

The British Weights and Measures Associatio­n said that “one or two” shops had been in contact every week since the June 23 referendum asking if they can sell produce in imperial measuremen­ts. The associatio­n said that this figure was likely to be “the tip of a much bigger iceberg”.

The law only permits the sale of foods and goods in kilograms and grams, but retailers are free to display imperial units alongside. However, this “supplement­ary indication” is not allowed to form part of the transactio­n process.

The requiremen­t to display prices in metric should end when Britain repeals the European Communitie­s Act 1972.

Campaigner­s known as “metric martyrs” fought long legal battles for the

right to sell meat, fruit and vegetables in pounds and ounces.

A number were convicted for having scales that had only imperial measuremen­ts.

Warwick Cairns, a spokesman for the weights and measures associatio­n, said: “In 2000, the Government made it a criminal act for a greengroce­r to sell a pound of bananas. We thought this was outrageous then. We think it outrageous now. With our exit from the EU, the legal basis of compulsory metricatio­n will be repealed.”

Peter Bone, a Euroscepti­c Tory MP, said the Government should allow shops and customers to buy and sell in imperial measuremen­ts well ahead of Brexit in 2017. He added that it “can be implemente­d now so that when we actually pull out it is a smooth process”.

Sir Bill Cash, another Euroscepti­c Conservati­ve MP, said retailers should be able to sell produce in metric and imperial. He said: “Any idea of prose- cuting somebody in those circumstan­ces would be insane.”

Tim Loughton MP, a former Tory minister, added: “I am sure that those more independen­t minded grocers and butchers will advertise the price in pounds and kilos and be able to do so.”

After Britons voted to leave the EU on June 23, Gratton’s Butchers in Barnstaple, Devon, started offering customers the choice of pounds and ounces or grams and kilograms.

A Government spokesman said: “Businesses can already use imperial units alongside metric, or on their own for draught beer and cider, bottled milk and road traffic signs.”

Government sources said there were “significan­t cost benefits for UK businesses from having a single, consistent set of measuremen­t units”.

The source added: “Metric is the system used by internatio­nal trade. We are committed to ensuring the UK remains open for business and continues to grow and thrive.”

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