Indeed, not The Onion. This was, for some, a selling point of Brexit. They're quite proud of it.

The US gets away with Imperial units because we're so isolated, and big enough that people make parts just for us. I can't imagine how the UK believes that they can achieve this, standing right on top of Europe.

But I guess they were willing to put up with the expense and friction of maintaining their own currency. Might as well just throw this on the pile of "sovereignty".