BRACE yourself as the Empire strikes back. As if the soaring cost of living was not already bad enough, Boris Johnson is bidding to add bunting to Brexit.

In a move to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the Prime Minister announced last week that the government will launch a consultation into bringing imperial measurements back to Blighty.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy announced it is pressing ahead with plans to review “overbearing EU rules” regarding weights and measurements and restore “common sense” to the statute book.

The move comes 22 years after the EU weights and measures directive first came into effect.

It meant traders were legally required to use metric units for

sale-by-weight or the measure of fresh produce, although it is still legal to price goods in pounds and ounces if displayed alongside prices in grams and kilograms.

As families struggle to feed their children and heat their homes, it’s good to know the government has its priorities in the right place.

When the present day becomes increasingly difficult to live with, there’s nothing like a nostalgic trip down memory lane and some good, old-fashioned values.

A cunning plan by Boris and his chums: perhaps the plebs won’t notice the price of a packet of mince – up 16% on last year, according to figures released last week – if we confuse them by selling it in pounds and ounces.

Even better! Let’s scrap decimalisation and bring back old money. That would definitely have them stumped.

Very 1970s. Very apt, as the standard of living plummets.

ANYWAY, the jolly old jubilee knees-up is bound to cheer everybody immensely …

And soon, for anyone who can still afford a pint of beer to cry into, your glass will proudly bear the symbol of the crown rather than that nasty EU symbol.

Here’s a sample of the official UK Government press release that was issued in triumphant fanfare to these new moves …

“Crowning glory: Crown symbol pint glasses making a comeback as nation celebrates the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee [yes, that really was the headline on it].

“Post-Brexit plans to return the Crown symbol to pint glasses and to remove the EU ban on imperial measures have been set out today (Friday 3 June).

“In a tribute to Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, new government guidance published today will help businesses apply the Crown symbol to pint glasses.

“As long ago as 1698, British pint glasses intended for measuring and serving beer were marked with a crown stamp as a declaration that the glass, when filled to the brim or to a line measure, accurately measured a pint of beer. The Crown stamp gave customers confidence that they were not being sold a short measure of beer. But the symbol was replaced by the EU-wide ‘CE’ marking in 2006 in order to conform with EU rules in the UK.

“Today’s announcement is not just about pounds and ounces, but about where the UK’s laws are made. The ‘metric martyrs’ was a totemic case in establishing the supremacy of EU law. Now we have left the EU, the UK can take decisions in the best interests of British businesses and consumers.”

It was not long before the news was branded – by a Tory peer no less – as “complete and utter nonsense” that would “add cost” for businesses.

Asda boss Lord Rose added: “I’ve never heard such nonsense in my life. I mean, we have got serious problems in the world and we’re now saying ‘let’s go backwards’.”

Those crown-embossed glasses will look splendid, though, at the next Downing Street bash.