ISTR that ideas were mooted for replacing the Lee-Enfield with something shooting a smaller, intermediate caliber cartridge prior to WWI, but the exigencies of war and the very small amount spent on the Army in the ensuing peace put the kibosh on those plans until the mid-1950s with the EM-2 (which was promptly killed by US unwillingness to adopt an intermediate caliber).
Is that true, and what would be the consequences of the British actually adopting this prior to either WWI or WWII?