Energy Saving (Daylight) Bill

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his useful intervention. It would certainly become an issue. My constituency runs along the foothills of the Campsies and the villages of Lennoxtown, Milton of Campsie, Twechar, Queenzieburn, Banton and the town of Kilsyth. It is the most beautiful part of the country, but those villages would be in serious difficulty if the Bill were enacted. Only the primary schoolchildren attend schools in their own villages; the secondary schoolchildren must travel to school by bus. Many of the children go to schools in different local authority areas. The hon. Member for South Suffolk suggested that people could get up earlier or later in the morning and go to work when they liked, and that schools could operate flexible opening. That is nonsense. The hon. Gentleman said that it would be perfectly acceptable for an authority to decide when the schools should open and when they should close. As I said, in my constituency children attend schools in different local authority areas.