Adjust your watches at the border...

Published on Saturday 28 June 2008 19:52

THOSE English nationalists who claim Scotland is lagging behind the rest of the UK might soon be able to prove their point. Tory MPs are backing a plan to move England ahead of Scotland by an hour, in a bid to resolve a long-standing dispute over the UK's most appropriate time zone.

The move is being backed as Conservative shadow ministers preparing for likely victory in the next general election begin to consider plans to change the time zone in the UK to bring it into line with western Europe.

The plan is backed by environmentalists, farmers and road safety experts in England who say it would make better use of the light down south, but in Scotland it has been met with fierce opposition.

With dawn in winter arriving later than in England, opponents have warned that farmers would be forced to work in the dark until mid-morning, while schoolchildren would have to go to school in pitch black for months on end.

Previous attempts by Conservatives to change the time zone have foundered due to fierce opposition by Scottish MPs.

However, Tories are now suggesting the matter of Scotland's time should be decided by Holyrood, having lost patience with Scottish MPs who have managed to block it thus far.

That opens the prospect of MSPs in Holyrood voting to maintain the status quo, while MPs in England back a change to move ahead an hour.

Conservative MP Tim Yeo, who has put forward a private members' bill pressing for change, said: "If Scotland wants a different time then that would be fine. It would be entirely reasonable and in keeping with devolution. There is no difficulty for one country to have more than one time zone." However, shadow ministers prefer a UK-wide solution.

A two-time zone nation would immediately raise several problems, for example, over TV scheduling. If London-based schedulers moved to the new English time zone, the watershed in Scotland would effectively begin at 8pm "local time", and not 9pm as at present.

And the dreaded "red eye" flights to England would get even worse for business travellers who would have to get to the airport an hour earlier to make early-morning meetings down south. Travellers who currently take a 7am flight from Edinburgh or Glasgow to get to a 9am meeting in London, would find themselves having to get a 6am "Scottish time" flight in order to make the same meeting. However, Scots flying back in the evening would gain an extra hour and might just get home in time for tea.

The demands for change in England come with Jersey soon to hold a referendum on becoming the first part of the UK to move to Central European Time (CET). The move is expected to be passed even though there is opposition on the island to the idea of moving away from mainland time.

But if the Tories do get into power, it is likely that the rest of England and Wales could follow. Supporters insist that the move would benefit most of the country, claiming that, during winter, an estimated third of the population are still asleep when the sun rises but arrive home from school or work in the dark and cold.

The plans are also being backed by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents which claims that a change would stop 450 accidents involving deaths and serious injuries every year.

Meanwhile, environmentalists claim that a change would save 5% of Britain's entire electricity use, as people made use of lighter evenings.

However, a spokesman for the SNP said: "In Scotland, the majority of people would prefer the extra hour of daylight in the morning. Scottish children should not have to go to school in the dark."

On the details of Yeo's Bill, he said: "Either the Scottish Parliament would be forced to accept this change, or have a different time zone than that in England. Obviously the SNP believe that the Scottish Parliament should have responsibility for all matters – clearly this bill isn't a serious way to address the issue."

The most recent opinion poll on the subject showed 54% in favour of the moving to CET, with 59% backing it in southern England but only 40% in Scotland.

However, a spokesman for the National Farmers' Union in Scotland said they would continue to look at the possibility of a change of time for the whole of the country.

He said: "The gut reaction is still against such a change because of the increased darkness in the morning. But we keep an open mind on the subject and if we can be convinced that the impact to farming would be negligible then we could understand the need to go down that route."