Metrication in the United Kingdom

Metrication is the process of introduction of metric units for measurement. The United Kingdom is currently phasing out the legal status of most non-metric units, with a projected completion date of 2009, although completion was originally projected for 1978 and has been delayed a number of times. Metrication was a precondition of the UK's membership of the EEC (now EU) in 1973, and has been discussed regularly by Parliament since 1818. It has been estimated that 3% of UK industry turnover is lost annually due to costs of maintaining dual measurement systems. However, the costs of complete conversion have been estimated by opponents of change to be as high as £50bn (5% of 2005 GDP). Informal usage of non-metric units remains widespread.

Current usage

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An example of metrication of UK consumer products. Two of the four items are purely metric. Milk is often sold as "1.136 litres 2 pints". These sausages are labeled "340g 12oz", though it should be noted that Tesco has recently introduced a new line of metric only milk containers.

The UK currently uses a mix of metric and non-metric units for different purposes. The photo on the right shows an example of the current situation for common food products. Although labelled with the metric equivalent, milk is frequently sold in multiples of the pint, as with the 2 pint milk bottle shown. The salt and tinned beans are purely metric. The sausages are labeled "340g 12oz". By law since 1 January 2000, all loose goods sold by reference to units of quantity have to be sold using metric units, but traditional units may also be displayed. The UK government is required by European law to eliminate by December 31, 2009 almost all non-metric units when used for goods and services sold by quantity. Goods and services sold by a description are not covered by weights and measures legislation. Thus, a fence panel sold as "6 foot by 6 foot" will continue to be legal after 2009 but a pole sold as "50 pence per linear foot" is illegal. Road signs and speed measurement in cars have no schedule to change to metric. Non-metric units allowed by UK law for economic, public health, public safety or administrative use from January 1, 2000 are limited to:

• the mile, yard, foot and inch for road traffic signs, distance and speed measurement,
• the pint for the dispensing of draught beer and cider, and for the sale of milk in returnable containers,
• the acre for land registration
• the troy ounce for transaction in precious metals.

Other exceptions include aviation, shipping and rail transport. For example, the foot for aircraft altitude, nautical miles and knots ([1], [2]).

Draught beer and cider are the only goods that may not be sold in metric units in the United Kingdom; the only legal measures for these drinks when sold on draught are ⅓ pint (190 ml) (rarely encountered), ½ pint (284 ml) and multiples of the latter.

Metric is now the system used in all industries. Products that may appear to be imperial are actually manufactured to metric specifications, using metric drawings and made on metric machines, even if references to imperial units persist in some areas.

There are currently active opposition movements in the UK, such as the hundred year old British Weights and Measures Association and Active Resistance to Metrication (ARM). A recent success for these activists was against York City council's erection of 30 hiking trail signs with kilometer distance markings. The council agreed to cover the offending markings with plastic disks. ARM supporter Peter Rogers said: "Each time we are successful [in getting metric signs changed], it is a small but significant step towards eradicating them from our country. The imperial weights and measures of this country are part of our traditions and part of our culture. Attempts to impose metric signs is one by stealth and deception and has been going on for many years." (BBC News)

The pro-metric movement in the UK is the UK Metric Association, which made a leaflet Very British Mess on the issue.

History

The question of metrication in the UK has always been coloured by Britain's relationship with France, the system's originator. Although British inventor James Watt called for the creation of a global measurement system in 1783, a letter of invitation in 1790 from the French National Assembly to the British Parliament to help create such a system received no reply. The French continued alone and created the foundations of what is now called Système International d'Unités and is the sole measurement system for 95% of the world.

As use of the new system, originally called the "Decimal System", grew through Europe, pressure grew in the UK for decimalisation. The issue of decimalisation of measurement was intertwined in the UK with decimalisation of currency. The idea was first discussed by a Royal Commission that reported in 1818 [3], and again in Parliament by Sir John Wrottesley in 1824. Another Royal Commission was set up 1838 by Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr Spring Rice (Later Lord Monteagle) and it reported in 1841 that decimal coinage was required first. A third commission advocated in 1853 decimal coinage in the form £ : 10 florin : 100 cent : 1000 mil. In the London Tavern on Bishopsgate St. 1854 Sir John Wrottesley set up the "Decimal Association" in order to lobby for decimalisation of both measurement and coinage. Sir John met with Gladstone a few days later but was unable to win him to the idea. In 1862, the Select Committee on Weights and Measures favoured the introduction of decimalisation to accompany the introduction of metric weights and measures [4]. A further Royal Commission "on the on the question of the introduction of metric system of weights and measures" also reported in 1869 [5].

On the legal front, 1864 saw a Private Members Bill pass which legalised use of the metric system in contracts. However, ambiguous wording of the 1864 law meant that traders who possessed metric weights and measures were still liable to arrest under Acts 5 and 6 William IV c63. The situation was clarified in 1897 following another Select Committee which also recommended that metrication become compulsory by 1899. In 1904, scientist Lord Kelvin led a campaign for metrication and collected 8 million signatures of British subjects. Two years previously an Empire conference decided that metrication should be compulsory across the British Empire. On the opposition side, 1904 saw the establishment of the British Weights and Measures Association for "the purpose of defending and, where practicable, improving the present system of weights and measures". At this time 45% of British exports were to metricated countries. Parliament voted to set up a Select Committee on the matter.

This Select Committee reported in 1907 and a bill was drafted proposing compulsory metrication by 1910, including decimalisation of coinage. The opposition declared that decimalisation of coinage would cost £100m alone. The matter was dropped in the face of wars and depression, and would not be again raised until the 1951 Hudgson Report, the result of yet another Select Committee.

The Hudgson Report recommended compulsory metrication and currency decimalisation within 10 years. It said "The real problem facing Great Britain is not whether to adhere either to the imperial or to the Metric system, but to maintain two legal systems or to abolish the Imperial." The report also recommended that the change should be done in concert with the commonwealth (former Empire) and the USA. It also pointed out that metric standards were more accurate than Imperial ones, and that the yard and pound should be pegged to definite metric values. This was done by international agreement in 1959 and currently the yard is defined as 0.9144 metres exactly, and the pound as 0.453 592 37 kg exactly. Agreement could not be reached on the pint (and gallon), and this value still differs between the UK and US (the only countries that maintain legal definitions of these units).

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Metrication logo of the Board of Trade.

In 1965 the UK Board of Trade and the Confederation of British Industry declared their full support for metrication and decimalisation. Currency decimalisation did finally take place in the UK on Decimal Day, 15 February 1971. The UK Metrication Board was set up in 1969 with an "Advisory, educational and persuasive role", but without mandatory powers. Metric units have been taught in UK schools since the late 1960s, and certain industries also converted or largely converted decades ago. For example the paper industry converted in 1970, and the construction industry between 1969 and 1972—although certain products continue to be produced to with reference to imperial trade names but made using metric dimensions in the factory; for example, a 13 mm thick plasterboard is still often called 'half-inch', even though the measurement is rounded to a convenient metric size and so is now only approximately half an inch thick.

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Metric Britain logo, Metrication Board.

A Commons debate in 1970 on the introduction of compulsorary metrication ended in farce. The governing Labour party was then unpopular and the opposition Conservatives revolted on the issue. Exaggerated cost estimates were raised without reference, ludicrous objections and calls for further select committees on the issue were voiced. Examples include,

• Robert Redmond, MP "When I have travelled abroad and particularly on the Continent, I have noticed that people have on their desks calculating machines while we in Britain do the same sums in our heads."

• Henry Kerby, MP "this metric madness, this alien academic nonsense, introduced secretly through the back door by a bunch of cranks and the big business tycoons...and put into clandestine operation."

• Carol Mather, MP "I am led to the conclusion that comprehensive universal metrication is a bit of a nonsense... there is a gap between the millimetre and the metre, there is no centimetre...The kilo is too heavy for the housewife to carry and we know that in France and Denmark they use the old system of the pound."

The press reports on the debate, particularly the "Daily Telegraph" and "The Times" were very favourable to the opinions of the conservatives. Following the debate the projected deadlines for the phased metrication steps were delayed one by one. The original intention of metrication "in concert with the commonwealth" backfired. Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa all completed their metrication processes by 1980, the year that the UK Metrication Board was abolished in a cost cutting measure. In the UK, the last laws which restricted the sale of metricated goods were only removed in 1995. It is still illegal to sell draught beer in metric units, recently leading to an Austrian themed pub being asked to stop selling beer by the half litre traditional German steins. (BBC news).

UK metrication and the EU

It was a condition of the UK's entry into the European Economic Community (the EEC is now a part of the European Union) that the UK, along with Ireland, would convert all trade and production to the metric system by the 1st of January 1978. Indecision and political opposition led the UK government to renegotiate this date first to 31st December 1989, then 1994, 1999 and recently to 31st December 2009. The involvement of the EU has led metrication to be linked in the public mind with euroscepticism, and the traditional eurosceptic British press has taken a dim view of the process. Example stories include the Daily Star on 17 January 2001 which claimed that beer would soon have to be sold by the litre. A comparison with Ireland, where metrication is complete, indicates that this is not true. Beer is still sold by the pint, but this is officially described as a 'glass of beer'.

The European Units of Measurement Directive 89/617/EEC forced the UK government to pass laws in 1994 finally permitting the sale of goods using metric labelling, while permitting dual measurement. Public reaction to the 1994 laws was negative. Steve Thoburn applied to the European Court of Human Rights on the basis that his human rights had been violated but the court decided that no violation had occurred. George Gardiner of the Federation of Small Businesses called for a civil disobedience campaign. In 1999 further laws were brought metricating the sale of, among other things, fresh fruit. The "metric martyrs" were shop owners in the UK who were fined for refusing to use metric units and for overcharging in response to metric customer requests. Such protests appear to have deep traditions in England. Philip Grierson notes that in 1201 the town of Lincoln paid "lavish" fines rather than use government-imposed reformed weights and measures.

In August 2005, the European Commission announced it would require Britain to set a legal deadline for the completion of metrication.[6]

Costs

The estimated costs of metrication in the UK range from near zero to a 1970 estimate of £5bn (about £50bn in 2002 pounds [7]) by opponents of the change. True scientific calculations of the potential costs have been fairly rare. A 2005 report pointed to the metrication of the UK's 1m road signs as the major cost [8]. A 1970's study by the UK Chemical industry estimated costs at £6m over seven years, or 0.25% of expected capital investment over the change period (1972 White Paper, 'Metrication' Cmnd 4880).

90% of UK exports go to metric countries, and there are costs to business of maintaining two production lines (domestic and exports to the US in Imperial and export in metric) These have been estimated at 3% of annual turnover by the Institute of Production Engineers, and at £1.1bn (1980) per annum by the CBI. Current EU plans will dictate a change to metric-only labeling on all products by 2010. This will, in theory, ban the sale of goods in the UK with Imperial labelling. However, goods produced in the UK for export to the US may still be labeled in non-metric units.

See also

• Metrication arguments and counter-arguments

External links

• UK Government Department of Trade and Industry (policy statement)
• British Weights and Measures Association (anti-metric)
• UK metric association (pro-metric)
• Drop the Pint

References

1. English Linear Measures: an essay in origins, by Philip Grierson. 'The Stenton Lecture 1971', University of Reading.
2. The Basis of Measurement: Historical Aspects, by Thomas McGreevy. ISBN 0-948251-82-4
3. The Basis of Measurement: Metrication and Current Practice, by Thomas McGreevy. ISBN 0-948251-82-0