Andrea Leadsom suggested Britain will be free to use whatever measurement system people choose

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The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs secretary said Britain would be free to decide how to label its goods without interference from Brussels, once the divorce was finalised in 2019.

Companies could ditch the EU-sanctioned metric-system and give weights and measurements however they saw fit, she claimed, including using teaspoons to demonstrate how much sugar is present in the product.

Mrs Leadsom said: “Once we have left the EU, we will get the opportunity to look at how we can change rules that will be better for the United Kingdom and whether that’s on weights and measures or issues like teaspoons, those are things for the future.”

Under EU law, manufacturers must display metric units on all packaging.

Imperial measurements can be displayed but "cannot stand out more than the metric measurement”.