Britain pledges to restore pounds and ounces as a Brexit advantage


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Brexit updates

Boris Johnson’s government has promised to pass laws allowing UK traders to sell their goods in pounds and ounces instead of grams and kilos when it unveiled plans to seek a deregulatory dividend from Brexit.

The restoration of old imperial weights, long a demand from Brexiters who were reluctant to introduce metric measures by Brussels, was one of the main potential benefits of Britain’s exit from the EU presented on Thursday by Lord David Frost, responsible for Brexit implementation competent ministers.

One of the potential benefits of the UK’s exit from the EU’s regulatory orbit was that restaurateurs would be able to reintroduce the crown hallmark on their glassware, which Brussels banned but described as an “important symbol” of Britain in the review.

Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, Brexit protagonist and real ale enthusiast, said he was “excited” about the reintroduction of the emblem on pint glasses.

Frost announced the move as part of a Number 10 initiative to seek “Brexit opportunities” after a government task force sought deregulatory dividends led by noted Brexiter and former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith.

He added that the Task Force on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform, which reported last May, would provide a launch pad for reforms to “position Britain at the forefront of the industries that will shape our future”.

Economy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng said the government understood the “Brexit freedoms” and tweeted: “We now have the opportunity to create a competitive regulatory environment with high standards to support innovation and growth – and we will.”

Other areas of the economy where the government is seeking regulatory reforms that could give the UK a competitive advantage outside the EU’s single market include gene editing in agriculture, medical device controls, commercial data handling, AI and financial services regulation.

Sam Lowe, a trade specialist at the Center for European Reform, said the list was a mix of “things that have no meaning at all, things that might be important, and things that are important”.

The test, however, would be whether “a deviation from the EU regulations brings a material economic benefit or just a deviation for the sake of the deviation”.

Industry has welcomed the government’s desire to create new regulatory frameworks, but warned that divergences for their own sake risk creating unnecessary bureaucratic complexity for many companies already complying with EU regulations.

William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the UK Chamber of Commerce, said “Simplicity and Stability” should be the watchwords in the consultation process and change should be subjected to rigorous cost-benefit analysis.

“If existing regulations on product standards and services work well, we hope ministers will recognize and maintain the benefits of continuity for businesses and consumers alike,” he added.

Regarding data, companies have warned of deregulation that could lead Brussels to overturn its “adequacy” decision, which recognized that the UK’s post-Brexit regime was in line with EU standards and the continued free movement of data between the made possible in both legal systems.

However, Neil Ross, head of policy at TechUK, the industry lobbying group, said other suggestions such as increased digitization of documentation, including electronic signatures for international contracts, are welcome.

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“These are the practical regulatory reforms that the government should push forward and that will make a difference for local businesses,” he added.

At the same time, the UK Medicines Regulatory Authority, the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Authority, launched a consultation on the future of health product regulation, an area targeted at number 10 for growth and reform.

The government has yet to decide how to deviate from the onerous EU medical device regulation, but industry has warned that the UK market is not big enough to maintain an entirely separate regulatory system.

Senior executives have also expressed dismay at the recent announcement of plans to cut up to 25 percent of the MHRA’s workforce to offset the millions of pounds of annual income lost from their role in drug approval in the EU.

Derek Hill, a professor of biomedical engineering at University College London, said the government must invest if it is to have a significant impact in this area. “Recently announced cuts and restructuring appear short-sighted in this regard,” he added.

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