Lighter Evenings (Experiment) Bill [HL]

All I can say to the noble Lord is that that is not my recollection. All Members of the House had received a torrent of letters from people giving reasons quite different from the road safety aspect. I agree that that was a part of it, but it is my strong recollection that it was only a minor concern at the time. If any noble Lord wants to read the debate, I have a copy of that Hansard with me. One can see that many other reasons were put forward on that occasion for voting to throw out British Standard Time. I ask myself this: what, since 1970, has changed? Aside from some very minor adjustments, nothing much has changed. In general terms, the position is exactly as it was. If we were to embark on the noble Lord’s experiment, there would be a similar torrent of objection to it. I recall getting a great deal of kudos in my constituency in the Lake District for speaking up on behalf of the large number of my constituents who had told me what a ghastly experiment it was. If we were to return to it, I am sure that it would be equally unpopular. During the experiment, for 67 days between 26 November and 1 February in my own Lake District constituency, the sun would not rise until after nine o’clock in the morning. The constituency lay in a direct line about half way between Land’s End and John O’Groats. I recall that my old friend the late Lord Callaghan tried to make out that it was a Scottish issue. It was nothing of the sort, rather it was a very much a matter which offended people in both England and Wales. The experiment caused great irritation to farmers. I recall quoting the case of a farmer in my constituency who wrote to me saying that he had to get up to milk his cows at six o’clock in the morning in order to catch the milk lorry. Having done that, he then had to sit on his bottom and wait until nine o’clock before he could go out on to the fell to look after his sheep because it would not get light until then. Small builders showed how much money they were losing because they were not able to start work at the usual time. A number of parents also complained about having to take their children to school in the dark. Opposition to the experiment ranged far wider than just in Scotland. In terms of legislation, I know that this Bill has no future whatever. I should say with what I suppose is a certain amount of shame that in another role when in another place, I was responsible for killing as many Private Members’ Bills as most people you will ever meet. The truth is that the Bill has no future. But before we go any further, I turn to my amendment. I realise that this amendment, which I drafted myself, may have technical imperfections, but that is often the fate of homemade amendments. As the Bill stands, we could have different time zones within the United Kingdom. The Minister referred to this in his helpful opening remarks in response to our first debate. By passing a Bill of this sort, the United Kingdom Parliament could opt for the experiment, but as we have heard, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland could refuse to join in. The Bill would apply to those areas only if they decide to participate. Frankly, I think that that would lead us into an absurd situation. We speak of the United Kingdom when we refer to these tiny islands. What could be more ridiculous than having different time zones in the United Kingdom? I accept that this may be open to argument, but so far as I know we would be the only country in the European Union with different time zones. Of course we accept different time zones within the European Union itself, but I cannot think of any country which has two time zones within the state.