// Asda boss criticises government’s plans to bring back imperial weight and measures

// Lord Stuart Rose said the change would only please “a small minority who hark for the past”

Asda chairman Lord Stuart Rose has criticised the government’s plans to bring back imperial weight and measures as “complete and utter nonsense”.

The UK government has launched a consultation on whether British shops can return to using imperial weights and measures like pounds and ounces.

It is unlikely that metric units will be scrapped entirely, but shops may replace them in some areas with imperial measurements.

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These plans would also bring back the Crown symbol to pint glasses, replacing the ‘CE’ marking on glasses used across the European Union.

Lord Rose said the change would only please “a small minority who hark for the past”.

The idea has already faced criticism from the Conservative backbenches, with Rutland and Melton MP Alicia Kearns also branding it “a nonsense”.

Lord Rose said it amounted to going “backwards”, and predicted it would be costly for those putting it in place.

The EU weights and measures directive came into force in 2000, with traders legally required to use metric units for sale-by-weight or the measure of fresh produce.

It remains legal to price goods in pounds and ounces but they have to be displayed alongside the price in grams and kilograms.

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