All the evidence suggests that, despite more than decade-and-a-half of goods being labelled in both metric and imperial, the British remain defiantly out of step with their counterparts across the channel.

BBC: Will British people ever think in metric?

"We know that working out the exact language is not easily done overnight, but we remain convinced that coming out with a strong position in the United Nations is the first ... important step we intend to take, " she said.

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