they will also loose the option to fly IMC as long as clear of cloud.
I don't think any plain PPL, anywhere in the world, can fly in actual IMC.
In the UK you could have done that up to about 1965.
Unless one defines "IMC" as anything technically not VMC e.g. 2999m vis on a JAA PPL, etc, but that is meaningless.
And IFR in VMC, plain PPL, is a waste of time anyway. VFR, OCAS, the sky is all yours!