The more the EU digs its heels in the more the British will dig there's in.
Right, next on the list, the Constitutional Referendum...bring it on!

Phill Barlow, Wirral, England

This announcement comes conveniently just at the right time for Gordon Brown as he faces calls for a referendum on the whole fundamental EU concept. I believe us, the UK, are being 'softened up' and pacified by this metric surrender, so that we look more favourably on the gigantic tax funded bureaucratic gravy train based in Brussels. In all, it is a cynical tactic to avert our attention from the more sinister aspects of a quasi-soviet super-state in the making.

Andy Fleming, Liverpool, UK

And so Britain takes another step closer to joining the ranks of the third-world countries for no good reason. Shame!

Roger Bingham, Lauzun, France

Those UK measurements are a nightmare for any european travelling to the UK. The same way, I would imagine metric units are even a greater problem for British people when they have to deal with the rest of Europe for business or pleasure. Harmonization seems to be the logical way to go.

Liz, Madrid, Spain

The use of pounds; pints, etc. is principally,probably solely, in internal 'cultural' contexts such as pub, market and road signage . I haven't come across any serious industrial or commercial player, particularly in the export secter, which doesn't use SI units so the fuss over competitiveness is misplaced. [The Metrication report you refer to in another article gives one undated example which was a failure in project management and QA; other examples given are risible..such as difficulty in calculating BMI, which many cardiologists,etc. are abandoning as a measure of healthiness anyway!]

The Commission could well argue that in abandoning pressure for changes in these 'cultural' contexts it is merely following the EU motto in encouraging diversity. Alternatively, and as your article points out, it could just be a propaganda move to appear 'UK friendly' whilst the government faces a campaign for a referendum.

Peter Mason, Chelmsford,

Yes let's go back to bushels and pecks and barleycorns and cubits while we're at it. This is a silly dispute. The day will come when all of these unwieldy units of measurements will fade away along with the tired old Pounds and Pence. And good riddance. For the moment we will have the famous British compromise and give people the option of using both measurements but for how long? Well, maybe there is no harm in it for now but future generations will wonder what the fuss was all about. The EC has used tact and diplomacy to disarm the opponents of unification. In the end it will not really matter what I want or what shopkeepers and their customers want. We are in Europe and if federalism is the way to go we will go federal. Then at last we will be able to say a collective "No" to America's claims on our cooperation in its imperialistic campaigns in countries they have no right to go anywhere near.

Zoe, Sheffield, England, EC

Excellent. Can we now revert to gallons so it isn't a mathematical task to find out what a car's mpg is?

Bill, Coulsdon, England

It's fair enough that the EU shouldn't care if a nation chooses to shackle itself with an archaic system of measures, but it's a disgrace that Britain fights so hard to stay in the past.

Roger, London,

Err, excuse me. I am 43 years old and have only ever been taught metric through my entire school days. I think it is pathetic how people want to retain imperial measurements when most of the world uses metric. Will we still be using imperial after the last UK national to have learned that system in school dies? Also, the comparison with the USA is misleading as some US weights and measures differ from imperial.

Pete, Chippenham, UK

Just like the Tory party... opposition for oppositions sake, some people will never change.

Bob, Diddly-Boing, US, Idaho

Who will teach my 34 year old daughter and three younger sons old imperial measurements as they were never taught them at school?

john pope, hailsham, UK

I recently bought a fish tank. I needed to know the volume of water it contained, and how much that would weigh. In metric, the tank was 50cm X 20cm X 20cm. Its volume is 20000 cc = 20000mL = 20L = 20kg. Not too hard. In Imperial, that tank measues 20" X 8" X 8". Its volume is 1280 cubic inches - but then what? I'll leave it to the metric haters to work out the rest, but this tired pensioner's brain will stick to good ol' metric thank you very much, with its nice, easy 1 to 1 relationships and no stupid conversion factors.

John Frewen-Lord, Nettleton, North Lincs

Good old EU - just as Gordon Brown is struggling to get the 'it's-not-a-constitution' treaty through parliament without a referendum. Good job I'm not cynical.

Edward T Weids, Bristol, UK

i can see for miles & miles

martin taylor , hoddesdon ,

Perhaps not Luke.... But we stand up today!!!.. And we have won today!

Simon F, Newcastle UK,

The media is responsible for this mess which now leaves us with generations of mathematicly disabled people confused by trying to work with two incompatible systems when the one simple,safe one was offered. The media has used it to promote sales with anti-EU stories when the ENTIRE British Commonwealth changed simply to metric decades ago like the rest of the world, bar the United States which we do not appear to be part of! Metric had its genesis in the work of the very ENGLISH John Wilkins in the 17th century and several metric terms are named after British scientists. Such facts are denied the British public to be proud of in favour of hysteria, supporting a system of ancient Roman weights and measures and a very German-sounding word "fahrenheit" to feel "British". Now the whole world can laugh at us and the huge expense and wastage of dual labelling. Paid for by us..the consumers!

riane, London, England

You might see it as a "pointless battle", however many of us, the Metric system is the only system that makes sense, and this is a very sad day.

I feel cheated, that we will have to live with imperial system, and it's nonsense units of measurement.

Mark, Weymouth, Dorset

yes luke but this is england not europe

martin taylor , hoddesdon herts,

We now have a half baked system which is almost metric but not quite. Why as a nation are we so reluctant to change. The rest of the word apart from the US has embraced the metric system because they recognise that it is so much better. Countries like Canada and Australia managed to introduce it without any problems. We however just hesitate around. The government has no hesitation in introducing new taxes and other unpalatable revenue producing measures but bows to a few sceptics when it comes to metrication.

David Smith, Gillingham, Dorset

My foot is not 1 foot, my hand is not 1 hand and my yard is a lot bigger than 1 yard in size... these units just sound daft and are not even British in origin so why on earth do so many people get so emotional about using a sensible and more logical system?

The British public spend so much time moaning about our country becoming "Americanised" - fast food, soft drinks, movies and TV poluting our culture - yet the very same people want us to retain a system of measurements which is used only in that country, and in a significantly different form!

Let's just stop arguing over the EU thing and just finish going metric, because at the end of the day it is the right thing to do!

Alex Bailey, Corby, England

Running 2 systems of units is lunacy. In 30+ years in engineering I have seen countless disasters (financial & life critical) caused by conversion errors.
The choice is to revert totally to the imperial system or to embrace the SI system exclusively.
The SI system is used on every continent (not just Europe) and is coherent and logical. No other countries use the imperial system (US gallons, tons etc, are different and since 1973 it is the declared policy of the US to exclusively use SI units for business)

Mike Oxley, Farnham Common, England

There is a big difference between the needs of the world wide scientific and business communities and those of retail establishments such as pubs and grocery stores. The former should (and do, even in the US) use metric transactions while the later can use the local norm.

I certainly wouldn't want to return to Britian to find that I had to order just over half a litre of beer!

Tim Maitland, New Fairfield, USA

I am all for it.

Now perhaps they can sell a pint of milk (or a litre) and forget about that nonsense of 1.29 litres.

I wouldn't mind also to go back to pounds, shillings and pence.

Freddy, London,

Some sense at last!

Alan, Midlands,

"The idea that you could not go for a pint in a pub in Britain is not acceptable.”

give the government a few years...
(howabout a pint and a cigarette?)

Jon, London, UK

I was taught in infant school that the metric system (or at least the meter) was based on an erroneous measurement in the first place. Whether that's true or not, I'm very glad that my US homeland hasn't given way to Europressure to conform to the dreaded metrics.

It's not natural, it's bogus in origin and we don't like it one little bit. Sure, it's easier to move a decimal point, but who cares? It doesn't feel real.

Patricia Morrison, New York, NY USA

Brilliant out come at long last we can go back to what we know is right,

p foxwell., devon, U .k.

I agree, "let's go to the pub for a swift 473.18 millilitres" doesn't have quite the same ring to it, does it?

Alex, Hawkhurst,

Collectively as a nation, we should ignore all EEC directives as not one of us has ever given consent ,worse still, we have never even been consulted, therefore the whole thing is illegal.
Instead of building multi billion pound aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines, we should be building hundreds of coastal patrol boats to guard our borders. Illegal immigrants are simply walking up our beaches on a daily basis and the Government turns a blind eye.
Roll on the election, time for a change, lets vote for those who will get us out of europe and secure our borders!

Clive Burghard, LANCING, ENGLAND

Why don't the press report the truth about how many countries are metric? Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa are all metric.

In fact the USA is the only country in the world to still largely use non metric measurements. globalisation will sooner or later lead to us being metric....you can't stand up to 99% of the world...simple!

Luke , London, UK

Absolute disgrace.

Anita Palley, London,

I wish to express my deep disappointment, bordering on disbelief, on learning of the proposal that would serve to perpetuate beyond 2009 the weights and measures muddle that has, over decades, come to represent to others the United Kingdom as being introspective, backward looking and unable to reach a permanent strategic decision.

Whilst the proposal was made by the European Commission's Industry Commissioner, Gunther Verheugen, I believe that this outcome was as a result of vociferous lobbying by a group within the U.K. whose motives I believe to be at the very fringe of logical respectability, appearing to be motivated more by a misguided sense of “patriotism”, cosy stagnation and “euro-phobia” than informed rational argument.

A Titley, Cambridge, England

I started junior high school in 1962 and learned decimalisation of money. By 1970, we had decimal currency. Like the continentals changing to Euros, there were lots of sneaky price increases (that's rip-off Britain for you).
In 1964, in Technical Drawing, same thing - metric teaching only. I am in my mid-late 50's and never learned all those strange measurements on the back of school jotters. I use centigrade for temperature (apart from a limited range for room temperatures). I use metric for everything else, except people's weight (but not American "200 pound man" stuff).
I can't see a problem with metric as a basic measurement, and imperial as a secondary measurement. If you leave it to "local choice", I just hope that doesn't meant imperialists will force a reverse.
Incidentally, few imperial units are "standard" (1 UK gal = 1.1 US gal, UK pint = 20fl.oz, US pint = 16 fl.oz. US and UK inches were different until 1959. USA still use Bushels!
Standard - I don't think so!

JD McClymont, Falkland, Scotland

Mr Verheugen said, "Things such as pints and miles and feet and inches are what makes us love Britain".

I'm sure that any foreign lorry driver that has hit a low bridge with a restriction sign in feet and inches would not agree.

Martin W, Telford,

About time Thank God for common sense - now all we have to do is get rid of the rest of the buerocratic nonsense.

Denboy, Manchester,

This is absurd so now we are stuck in the halfway house zone where certain things are metric and other duodecimally archaic. Nobody of my generation knows what an "acre" etc... is as we have only been taught in metric as has everyone under 45! Ridiculous state of affairs! This is not tradition but simply the old European system of weights and measures that Britain is still using. Not even the Commonwealth uses the "imperial" system.

Philip, Manchester,

While it is good to see that the EU can be flexible I feel this is one of those near pyhrric victories, as younger people like myself are more comfortable with metric. Give it a decade or two and the same effect will be achieved as if Imperial had been outlawed.

Juan Incognito, London, UK

The whole of the engineering world is metric, with the exception of the USA and Britian has to join the metric system. Calculations in SI units are so much neater than foot-pound and pound feet.

Alan Jones, East Grinstead, West Sussex