The decision comes after decades of argument over EU rules governing units of measurement.
ADVERTISEMENTIn a new ‘boost’ for post-Brexit Britain, the UK government has announced that consumers will be able to buy pint-sized bottles of still and sparkling wine.
The Department for Business and Trade says the new 568ml size bottles will offer more choice for customers.
Presently, still wine can’t be sold in 200ml quantities, and sparkling wine can’t be sold in 500ml amounts. But that could change, with the new legislation likely to allow still wine to be sold in 200ml containers.
Sparkling wines will be available in 500ml bottles for the first time, a new format between the currently available standard full (750ml) and half (375ml) sizes.
The Department has also confirmed it won’t introduce new rules on selling in imperial measures – something that Brexiteers have been focused on since long before the country left the EU.
It’s not the first time these sizes have been in existence in the UK.
Late prime minister Winston Churchill was known for his fondness for pint-sized bottles of champagne. They were still on shelves until 1973 when the UK joined the European Common Market.
Since the UK left the EU, Ministers in the Conservative government have been looking into changing laws and regulations left over from Britain's years in the bloc. Among them are requirements that that traders can only use Britain's traditional system of weights and measures only alongside the metric equivalent.
Rules set by the EU meant that traders could only display imperial measurements alongside metric – and it was forbidden for them to be more prominent.
This became a culture war issue for some on the populist anti-Europe right. In 2001, a group of so-called ‘metric martyrs’ were prosecuted for refusing the rules and selling goods using only imperial measures.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson, who was elected in 2019 and stood down last year, had long insisted the measures would be reviewed as part of plans to "capitalise on the benefits of Brexit".
He called imperial measurements an "ancient liberty" and said he saw "no reason why people should be prosecuted" for using them.
Yet the government has now decided against changing the rules after a survey found that 98.7% of people favoured using metric as the main or only measurement unit for sales.
