SIR - Tony Eaves' latest assertion (Letters, September 19) that the "EU is to allow us to continue to use imperial measurements" is somehow proof that "Brussels governs this country" is an exact inversion of the reality.
It was our own House of Commons that decided to convert to metric way back in 1862. This was formally legalised by Parliament via the Weights and Measures Act in 1897. It was our own House of Commons that finally voted to dump imperial measurements completely in favour of metric way back in 1965 - before we even joined the EU.
It was the current Labour Government back in 2001, by statutory instrument without any vote in Parliament, to force such a change through in the UK by making it a criminal offence to sell in pounds and ounces, punishable by a huge fine and possibly jail - with no input from Brussels' at all.
What Brussels' has done now, with more than a little help from British Conservative MEPs, is to make clear that Brussels' is not fussed whether the UK continues to declare in imperial measurements or not - in order to put pressure back on Gordon Brown to repeal a ridiculous order in council which it should never have arbitrarily imposed in the first place.
PHILIP BUSHILL-MATTHEWS, MEP
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