Sir, As Patrons and Honorary Members of the British Weights and Measures Association, we were very pleased to hear of the emphatic assurances given by the Secretary of State for Transport, Alistair Darling, during BBC One’s Question Time on February 23, that there is no intention to replace miles by kilometres or mph by km/h on road signs; and even happier to read the statement by Gunter Verheugen, European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, that “ I am not pressuring the UK to go metric. As long as I am in office we will not touch the issue. Full stop. I personally have a lot of sympathy for the pint and the mile in the UK. Really, what is the problem?”

We were also impressed by recent opinion polls in which up to 97 per cent of respondents opposed metric conversion. The will of the people is surely conclusive on this whole issue.

Since the mid-1970s the EU has allowed a derogation (concession) whereby customary units of weight can be displayed alongside, but subordinate to, the primary metric marking. However, from January 1, 2010, this concession, which has been regularly renewed, will end.

So it is not enough that all goods must be weighed and priced in metric measures; in less than four years it will be a criminal offence even to mention imperial measures. This is repression purely for its own sake. It is no more than a malicious attack on our cultural heritage as well as on our democracy.

Not only do the vast majority of the people not want a metric monopoly, a large proportion do not even understand metric units. We therefore urge British ministers to secure a permanent derogation for use of supplementary indications.

TREVOR BAILEY; CHRISTOPHER BOOKER; JILLY COOPER; ROY FAIERS; SIR RANULPH FIENNES; SANDY GALL; CANDIDA LYCETT GREEN; JOOLS HOLLAND; PROF RICHARD HOLMES; VICE-ADMIRAL SIR LOUIS LE BAILLY; DR JAMES LE FANU; CHRISTOPHER MARTIN-JENKINS; LORD MONSON; SIR PATRICK MOORE; WILLIAM POOLE; SIR TIM RICE; ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH; ANDREW ROBERTS; QUINLAN TERRY; SIR ROWLAND WHITEHEAD; ANTONY WORRALL THOMPSON

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