Coalition will support bid to move forward clocks 1 hour

Published on Friday 20 January 2012 00:39

THE UK government will today back a controversial Bill which proposes to move clocks forward by one hour for a three-year trial period.

The coalition’s business minister Edward Davey revealed that the coalition would support the Daylight Savings Private Member’s Bill tabled by the Tory MP Rebecca Harris.

The third reading of the Bill, which was previously opposed by the UK government, takes place today in the House of Commons.

The minister said the plan to have an extra hour of daylight in the evenings would not go ahead unless it was agreed by all countries in the UK.

Despite the UK government’s support of the Bill, Mr Davey will face a battle to move the clocks forward, given that the Scottish Government has argued against the change on the grounds that darker mornings could increase the accident rate.

On a visit to Edinburgh, Mr Davey told The Scotsman: “We opposed this at second reading because we didn’t feel that there was enough in the Bill to ensure that the voices of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were heard.

“So we went into committee and we got a whole range of amendments accepted and they will ensure that a Scottish government, the Welsh government and the Northern Irish Assembly are properly consulted before any pilot happens.

“And we think that’s incredibly important.”

Mr Davey said that having a full debate on the subject was vital.

But he pointed to Scottish voices which have been supportive of a trial that would see the UK move in line with the time in most of the rest of Europe.

Under the proposed arrangement, the clocks would change to British Summer Time plus one hour in summer and GMT plus one hour in winter, effectively meaning the clocks would go forward by one hour all year round.

Mr Davey said he noted that Kathleen Braidwood, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, had argued that the change would reduce accidents. Her evidence suggests that motorists are more at risk of making a mistake later in the day when they are tired.

“I know that the impact on road safety is a particularly hot issue here,” Mr Davey said: “I am confident that such an experiment would place beyond doubt the proposition that an extra hour of evening daylight would reduce the number of deaths and injuries on Scottish roads each year.”

The SNP MP Angus Brendan MacNeil said: “David Cameron should not be foolish enough to impose this change on the people of Scotland.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The UK government’s previous commitment to consult devolved administrations formally and to introduce changes only if consensus emerges from that process is welcome.

“The Scottish Government’s established position is that there is no case for a change to existing arrangements.”

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Jools in Edinburgh

Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 06:49 AM

#6 If that's the case then why is the person who represents the Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents arguing that this would reduce accidents?

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6

BillDunblane

Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 05:42 AM

Gotta synchronise the clocks with Europe for all them business deals! Why worry about some kids being killed in road accidents when the fat cats can make some more money? As long as the polling stations are open long enough, we can let them know what we think.

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5

Zuerich

Monday, January 23, 2012 at 05:15 AM

Move the clocks 6 hours, not one hour. We spend the daylight part of the day at workschool. Make it get light mid afternoon untill 10pm - kids could play in the street, people could enjoy the little daylight we get. More Vitamin D all round.

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Viewed From Afar

Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 11:10 AM

BTW, who are the two "half-people" drawn on the face of the made-up picture of Big Ben.

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Viewed From Afar

Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 11:08 AM

And it is something that the Scottish Parliament should reject and not implement in Scotland. ............................................................................ A campaign of civil disobedience to refuse to implement it. This will hasten the issue of Independence, but there will me many a Lowland Scot who will bow and scrape to their English masters and blindly do what the English say - just because the SNP say the opposite.

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antiparasite

Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 01:14 AM

Id be happy, mornings are for sleeping anyway!

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1

Willie Boy

Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 12:58 PM

Westminster are quite happy to leave Scotland in the dark in the mornings. Not for them concerns that Scotland is 500 miles further north and that the last time this was tried accidents and road injuries increased.

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