CASTLE POINT’S MP, Rebecca Harris, will be watching closely as the Coalition Government prepares to publish its Tourism Bill in the House later this week. It is reported that the Bill will contain proposals to meet the Tourism Industry’s demands for lighter summer evenings - by moving Britain’s clocks forward another hour during the summer months.
Mrs Harris has said: ‘The tourism industry has been crying out for extra daylight saving for years. It could extend the tourist season and boost the economy by up to £3.5billion a year.
‘And we would have longer, lighter evenings.’
If the controversial measure goes ahead, summer sunrise will be at its earliest around 5:50am; and sunset will occur latest around 10:18pm, locally.
The Government has yet to decide if present GMT winter time might also be moved forward an hour; but that seems unlikely given the fierce opposition to such a move by the Scots.
Permitting winter-time to remain measured by GMT is the only sensible option to adopt – since original statistics from the 1968 trial show that moving the clocks forward during this time increased the number of early morning road deaths due to the darker mornings.
The previous Labour Government, together with the Tourism Industry, sought to disprove that fact by ‘re-investigating’ the figures; but the evidence is clear.
On paper, the GMT+2 proposal would seem to have only a marginal impact on additional morning darkness as the cost of lighter evenings; but what has yet to be discussed is the temperature movement that a change will also incur.
It will remain much warmer, for later, during the summer months and Portugal’s experience, under a similar arrangement, was that sleep patterns were severely disrupted as a result.
Children were effected most - with many falling asleep at their desks the next morning at school.
Bringing forward the proposal to adopt GMT+2 in the summer months via its Tourism Bill could be a serious government mistake. Had Rebecca’s Bill been left in its committee stage to be properly investigated before trying to move it in Parliament, potential problems like the temperature shift could have been examined in detail.
For those with cash to spare in these difficult times: now could be a good time to invest in Breweries, Distilleries – and air-conditioning manufacturers…
… (Mail On Sunday, 27/02/2011) - VT-Day: For you, time traitors, the war is over – Mail on Sunday triumphs in its campaign to prevent Berlin Time being imposed on Britain
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