Victory for Britain's metric martyrs as Eurocrats give up the fight

Brussels has given up the fight to make Britain drop pints, pounds and
miles.

The right of Britons to use imperial weights and measures will be enshrined in
EU law under plans being announced by the European Commission.

Traditional measures will remain legal "until Kingdom come"

Vindicated: The 'Metric Martyr' Steve Thoburn, who died in 2004, insisted on
using imperial measures

The decision was hailed as a victory for the "metric martyrs" and campaigners
who have refused to accept successive governments' attempts to abolish
measurements dating back to the Middle Ages.

But the European Commission said it had acted merely to "get the Government out
of a hole" and claimed it never targeted Britain's well-loved imperial system.

A directive published today will be put to the Council of Ministers to be
approved by EU member states within the next few months.

It will confirm the UK's right to carry on using non-metric measures such as the
pint, the mile, and pounds and ounces.

But shops and traders will have to stick to current rules which require those
using Imperial weights and measures to show their equivalents in metric as well.

British governments have repeatedly asked for delays in implementing the switch
to metric agreed by the EU nearly 30 years ago.

The current delay - or derogation - expires in 2009 and it would have become
illegal for UK shops to display the imperial measurements after January 1, 2010.

But a consultation by the Commission found that the UK could carry on using
imperial measures without harming the single market, which governs trade across
the 27-member bloc.

Gunther Verheugen, the Commissioner for the Single Market, told the Mail he was
acting to end "myths" that "the EU was banning the pint and that this was part
of a wider plot against Britishness".

Mr Verheugen said: "Let's get one thing straight from the off.

"Neither the European Commission nor any faceless 'Eurocrat' has or will ever be
responsible for banning the great British pint, the mile, and weight measures in
pounds and the ounces.

"These imperial measures form part of the traditions that are the very essence
of the Britishness that all Europeans know and love."

He added: "We at the Commission have decided the time has come to nail these
myths once and for all by setting out in black and white what has always been
our view: that Britain should continue to use imperial measures for as long as
it likes.

"Much as it may dismay those who have peddled the metric myth for far too long,
we have now proposed legislation enshrining Britain's right to retain pints of
milk and beer, miles on road signs and dual indications of weights and measures
from now until Kingdom come."

The agreement to switch to metric was signed by the British government in 1980
as part of the preparation for the introduction of the Single Market.

But its implementation came up against determined opposition from campaigners
and the public, who showed repeatedly they were unwilling to give up traditional
measurements.

At least 15 consumer surveys between 1995 and 2000 found the British people
overwhelmingly rejecting metrification.

Brussels granted a series of derogations, and last night claimed that the
decision to go metric had actually been taken by a Tory government and supported
by its Labour successor.

A Commission spokesman said: "We have thought long and hard about this and
rather than getting periodically slagged off we have decided to solve the
problem once and for all.

"We are effectively getting the British government out of a hole. And we are
happy to do that."

Last night, the widow of Steve Thoburn - nicknamed the Metric Martyr after he
was convicted for selling bananas by the pound - demanded he now be pardoned.

The greengrocer, who worked a local market in Sunderland, became a national hero
in 2001 when he refused to abandon his old imperial weights in favour of metric
measures.

Until his death three years ago from a heart attack ,the 39-year-old father of
two fought against the bureaucracy of the European Commission and inspired the
Metric Martyrs Movement.

Led by his friend and fellow market trader, Neil Herron, it continued its work
in his name and refused to back down despite the threat of legal action. But his
criminal conviction remained.

Now, his widow, Leigh, 33, is calling for his name to be cleared.

Mr Thoburn was prosecuted by Sunderland City Council in 2001 for breaching the
Weights and Measures Act after selling bananas by the pound. His imperial scales
were confiscated and he was given a sixmonth conditional discharge.

Mr Thoburn was one of only four shopkeepers ever prosecuted for using pounds and
ounces - an offence which carried fines of up to £5,000.