Jacob Rees-Mogg’s imperial measurements consultation ‘biased’ after no option given to say no
It was meant to be one of the sure-fire wins for Brexit, but plans to bring back imperial measurements face criticism over claims of a biased government review.
Ministers were keen to launch a review to revive imperial measurements – such as pounds and ounces – and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), now overseen by Jacob Rees-Mogg, conducted a government consultation over the summer. However, the questions appeared to have something missing.
The survey asked consumers: “If you had a choice, would you want to purchase items: i) in imperial units ii) in imperial units alongside a metric equivalent.”
No other option was given.
Officials said respondents who wanted to keep the current metric system could send in an email to the department or give their views in one of the text boxes in the survey.
The BBC Radio 4 programme More or Less last week highlighted concerns about the survey and criticism of it on social media.
One Twitter user commented: “This survey is being punted out by BEIS. It is so slanted that the words nearly slide off the page.”
Dr Pamela Campanelli, a consultant on survey methods who has advised local government, told More or Less: “This is missing the category that you would prefer metric only. We’re going to get a biased answer, because people have to choose something that doesn’t apply to them.
“It seems like they’re actually trying to sculpt or lead the responses towards what they want, because they want people to go back to imperial.”
France adopted a metric system in the late 18th century, and a Decimalisation Assocation was founded in Britain in 1841 to lobby for a new system for currency and measurements. A report by a standards commission in the 1860s recommended
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