The current British Weights and Measures Association, or BWMA, is an advocacy group established in the United Kingdom in 1995, founded by Vivian Linacre. The current body was established in 1995, but there had also been a predecessor organisation, also called the BWMA, that was established in 1904, and lapsed after the First World War.
Aim of the BWMA
The BWMA's stated aim is to uphold the freedom to use the Imperial system and to oppose the compulsory imposition of the metric system in the UK. The BWMA's campaign parallels the evolution of the eurosceptic viewpoint of the UK's relationship with the EU - its founder, Vivian Linacre, stood for election as a UK Independence Party candidate in 1995, the same year as he founded the BWMA - famously asking the controversial eurosceptic Enoch Powell for endorsement of his political campaign. By the time of the modern BWMA's founding, metrication in the United Kingdom was far advanced, having begun in 1962. British schoolchildren had been educated using only metric measures since 1974, and British industry had changed to using metric tools and equipment during the 1980s and were, in most cases, manufacturing to metric standards.
Campaigns
BWMA maintain that people should be free to use the metric system if they want, but that it should not be forced upon them. and specifically, the Association campaigns for freedom for traders to serve their customers in whichever measures both parties find most convenient.
BWMA campaigns against the metrication of road signs and in 2009 published their response to a consultation hosted by the UK's Department for Transport which discussed a proposal to require compulsory dual Metric/Imperial signs of height limits and width limits. BWMA's responded that dual-units signage should not be made compulsory, and that the legal provisions allowing voluntary dual-units signage should be repealed so that only Imperial units could be displayed. This, the BWMA claimed, was to "avoid confusion."
BWMA members have published a number of books arguing for customary measures. These include The General Rule by BWMA President Vivian Linacre and About the Size of It by Warwick Cairns.
The BWMA has published a "rogues' gallery" of those they label "Metric Culprits." These include a long list of individuals and bodies that have advocated or supported metrication, including the Irish Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, who metricated road signs in Republic of Ireland in 2005.
