Merely floating ideas will only get the government so far with the public

Bringing back imperial weights may make a good soundbite, but the cost of living crisis is what is really biting, writes Chris Stevenson

Boris Johnson at a market stall in Salisbury (PA)

“It’s complete and utter nonsense, and it will add cost to those people who have to put it into place,” is Tory peer Lord Rose’s view on the government’s push to revive the use of imperial measurements in full.

The Asda chair gave short shrift to the government’s announcement of a consultation over how traders can use the UK’s traditional weighing system for goods, which the government says will help ministers consider whether goods should be “sold in pounds only, or in pounds with a less prominent metric equivalent”.

It is difficult not to share the assessment of Lord Rose, when the rest of the government’s view is taken into consideration. “There is no intention to require businesses to change their existing practices, and so this will not place greater costs on businesses,” the government has said – declaring that it is “not just about pounds and ounces, but about where the UK’s laws are made”.

So, does this mean that the great change to imperial measures will mean no change at all for any business that doesn’t want to make one? There has been plenty written in recent weeks about the Conservatives not having many fresh ideas to bring to the table, and Lord Rose says the work on imperial measures would mean we would be going “backwards” as a nation. Labour have also been quick to claim that the Conservatives are just taking their ideas, such as the windfall tax.

That windfall tax was part of a £15bn package of support for households, announced last month by the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to help deal with the cost of living crisis. While such measures will not be enough on their own, it is the type of concrete action that the public appreciates.

The latest polling from Ipsos shows a fall in the number of Britons saying that the government is not doing enough to deal with rising inflations and food prices. Almost half (49 per cent) of those surveyed say the government is not helping families, with 13 per cent believing that the government are giving too much support, while 25 per cent say they are providing about the right amount of help. That 49 per cent represents a drop from 76 per cent in a similar poll conducted in early May, before the chancellor’s announcement.

“We have got serious problems in the world,” Lord Rose has said, and it is dealing with those that the public will really respond to. The government would do well to remember that.