The phrase "ancient policy" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to refer to a policy or set of guidelines that has been in place for a long time, often with historical significance.
Example: "The ancient policy of the kingdom dictated that all citizens must pay tribute to the ruling monarch."
Alternatives: "long-standing policy" or "historical policy".
It is especially pertinent to this one, an ancient policy that Mr Brown himself previously and stubbornly opposed.
Indeed, Burke can be found, sometimes, on rational grounds, deprecating all explicit appeal to speculation of whatever hue, if it had a disturbing effect: 'reason not at all oppose the ancient policy and practice of the empire, as a rampart against the speculations of innovators on both sides of the question' (italics added) (ATX, W & S 1981-, 1981-,).
"I think that the policy is completely homophobic and it's an ancient policy started by the AIDS epidemic but I don't think that Health Canada or Canadian Blood Services has caught up to the times," Carlson told VICE.
Conversely, Tebow is not Mark Brunell, an experienced but ancient insurance policy who was central to last season's story line that Sanchez had no one to push him.
But Holland stays dry: its ancient tradition of dikes and pumps has been complemented by a $3 billion-plus barrier against ocean storms; its ancient policies for maintaining the balance between the sea and land are enforced and refined by the Rijkswaterstaat, which Ward calls "the most efficient national water agency in the world".
But only a month earlier he sent me a gift of £500, part of the yield of one of the ancient insurance policies he was in the habit of disbursing among his children.
He would not televise home games and stuck stubbornly to an ancient ticket policy that crimped team revenue.
American foreign policy and ancient prejudices are reinforcing each other in a vicious circle.
In doing so, they are ignoring national policy protecting ancient woods from development.
Personal debt cancellation used to be a common policy in ancient civilisations; every seven years, all debt was cancelled.
With two weeks to go until election day, the Obama campaign sought to mobilise support for a second term with an ancient political device: a policy manifesto.
