Bedfordshire MP leads debate over clock changes for daylight savings

As the UK prepares to move its clocks forward by one hour this weekend, Labour MP for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard, Alex Mayer, is pushing for a more permanent change to the country’s time system.

Ms Mayer is advocating for the UK to shift one hour ahead of GMT during winter and two hours ahead of GMT in the spring and summer.

She outlined her case, emphasising the benefits of better daylight usage, in a parliamentary debate held last night.

Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio, she said: "I want to make the best use of the daylight hours that we have because that saves energy and boosts economic growth."

The proposal is not without precedent. During World War II, Winston Churchill implemented a similar system as an energy-saving measure.

Ms Mayer argues that today’s climate emergency warrants a similar response. "This system would reduce energy usage and reduce our carbon emissions by more than 400,000 tonnes," she explained.

Beyond the environmental benefits, she believes that the change could positively impact tourism, particularly during the October half-term period, as well as provide a boost to the high street economy.

Additionally, she pointed to potential road safety improvements, suggesting that longer daylight hours in the evening could help reduce accidents.

"This is a low-cost but high-impact proposal which can help us meet our climate goals, reduce energy bills, and boost our high streets, all by simply making better use of the daylight hours that we have," Ms Mayer added.

While the proposal has potential benefits, it may face opposition from regions in the far north of the UK, where darker mornings could be a concern.

Calls have been rejected by the Government though.

Business minister Justin Madders acknowledged there are "a number of benefits" to the proposal, which was adopted during the Second World War, but said the Government believes the existing approach provides the "optimal use of the available daylight across the UK".

Replying to the adjournment debate, Mr Madders said: "The Government believes the current daylight savings arrangement represent the optimal use of the available daylight across the UK and changing the current arrangements would impact all citizens in the UK and Northern Ireland, and would require public consultation and an assessment on the impact on businesses across all sectors of the economy."

He said moving to double British summer time would result in darker mornings in the winter and he cast doubt on the impact of the proposed change on reducing road accidents and energy usage.

Mr Madders went on: "Moving to double British summer time would also create a time border between Ireland and Northern Ireland in a scenario where Ireland maintained its current approach to time.

"This non-alignment could cause problems for transport, particularly aviation, the tourism trade and business in general with higher impacts if there was only a part-year alignment."

Mr Madders said the north of Scotland would have "no daylight in the winter before 10am" under double British summer time, adding: "While in the rest of Scotland sunrise would be at 9am, so children in Scotland would travel to and from school in darkness."

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.