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British Summer Time

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Instigation and early years

Early history

British Summer Time was first established by the Summer Time Act 1916, after a campaign by builder William Willett. His original proposal was to move the clocks forward by 80 minutes, in 20-minute weekly steps on Sundays in April and by the reverse procedure in September. In 1916, BST began on 21 May and ended on 1 October. Willett never lived to see his idea implemented, having died in early 1915.

Periods of deviation

In the summers of 1941 to 1945, during the Second World War, Britain was two hours ahead of GMT and operating on British Double Summer Time (BDST). To bring this about, the clocks were not put back by an hour at the end of summer in 1940 (BST having started early, on 25 February 1940). In subsequent years, clocks continued to be advanced by one hour each spring (to BDST) and put back by an hour each autumn (to BST). On 15 July 1945, the clocks were put back by an hour, so BDST reverted to BST; the clocks were put back by an additional hour on 7 October 1945, so BST reverted to GMT for the winter of 1945.

In 1946, BST operated as normal (from April to October) but in 1947, BDST was re-introduced with effect from 13 April (BST having started on 16 March). The clocks were brought back in line with GMT at the end of summer in 1947, being put back by an hour on 10 August (to BST) and by another hour on 2 November (to GMT).

An inquiry during the winter of 1959–60, in which 180 national organisations were consulted, revealed a slight preference for a change to all-year GMT+1, but instead the length of summer time was extended as a trial. A further inquiry during 1966–1967 led the government of Harold Wilson to introduce the British Standard Time experiment, with Britain remaining on GMT+1 throughout the year. This took place between 27 October 1968 and 31 October 1971, when there was a reversion to the previous arrangement.

Analysis of accident data for the first two years of the experiment, published by HMSO in October 1970, indicated that while there had been an increase in casualties in the morning, there had been a substantially greater decrease in casualties in the evening, with a total of around 2,700 fewer people killed and seriously injured during the first two winters of the experiment, at a time when about 1,000 people a day were killed or injured on the roads. However, the period coincided with the introduction of drink/drive legislation; the estimates were later modified downwards in 1989.

The trial was the subject of a House of Commons debate on 2 December 1970 when, on a free vote, the House of Commons voted by 366 to 81 votes to end the experiment.

Debates on reform

Campaigners, including the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and environmental campaigners 10:10, have made recommendations that British Summer Time be maintained during the winter months, and that a "double summertime" be applied to the current British Summer Time period, putting the UK one hour ahead of GMT during winter, and two hours ahead during summer. This proposal is referred to as "Single/Double Summer Time" (SDST), and would effectively mean the UK adopting the same time zone as European countries such as France, Germany, and mainland Spain (Central European Time and Central European Summer Time).

RoSPA has suggested that this would reduce the number of accidents over this period as a result of the lighter evenings. RoSPA have called for the 1968–71 trial to be repeated with modern evaluation methods.

10:10's "Lighter Later" campaign, in addition to publicising the risk reductions described above, also highlights the potential energy benefits of Single/Double Summer Time, arguing that the change could "save almost 500,000 tonnes of CO2 each year, equivalent to taking 185,000 cars off the road permanently".

These proposals are opposed by some farmers and other outdoor workers and by many residents of Scotland and Northern Ireland, as it would mean that in northern Britain and Northern Ireland the winter sunrise would not occur until 10:00 or even later. However, in March 2010, the National Farmers' Union indicated that it was not against Single/Double Summer Time, with many farmers expressing a preference for the change. Other opponents of daylight saving measures say that darker mornings, especially in Scotland, could affect children going to school and people travelling to work.

A YouGov poll taken in March 2015 suggested that 40% of the people surveyed would prefer an end to the practice of changing the clocks, while only 33% wanted to keep it (the rest were indifferent or not sure). A recent YouGov survey showed that 44% would prefer to keep changing the clocks as now and only 39% backed having constant summertime. 56% were against stopping changing the clocks in Scotland. Sunrise would be as late as 10 a.m. in the winter in northern parts. It is feared that colder icier roads combined with people still half asleep in the dark is bad for health and safety.

See also

References

  1. Rose Wild "The battle for British Summer Time", The Times, 6 May 2010
  2. ^ Bennett, Oliver; Cromarty, Hannah (10 March 2016). "Briefing Paper Number 03796 – British Summer Time" (PDF). House of Commons Library. p. 4. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  3. ^ Thorsen, Steffen. "Time Zone & Clock Changes 1925-1949 in London, England, United Kingdom". timeanddate.com. Time and Date AS. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  4. Hollingshead, Iain (June 2006). "Whatever happened to Double Summer Time?". The Guardian.
  5. Cockburn, Jay (2016-03-26). "The time when the clocks changed by more than an hour". BBC Newsbeat. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  6. David Ennals "British Standard Times Bill ", Hansard, House of Commomns Debate, 23 January 1968, vol 757 cc290-366, 290–92
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bennett-2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. "Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents information sheet on the BST Experiment". Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
  9. Cited by Peter Doig, MP, Hansard, HC 2 December 1970, c1354
  10. Keep, Matthew (12 March 2013). "Reported Road Accident Statistics". Social and General Statistics Section, House of Commons Library. p. 4. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  11. "British Standard Time", Hansard (HC), 2 December 1970, vol 807 cc1331-422
  12. "Press Release October 22, 2008 It's Time for a Change to Save Lives and Reduce Injuries". RoSPA Press Office. Archived from the original on 17 March 2009."British Summer Time (BST)". NMM – National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original on 2 August 2009.
  13. Jha, Alok (29 March 2010). "Lighter Later Guardian Article". The Guardian. London.
  14. "'Time for change' call as clocks alter in UK". BBC. 30 October 2010.
  15. "Should We Change the Clocks?". National Farmers Union. 18 March 2010. Archived from the original on 30 March 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  16. "Is it time to stop changing clocks for daylight saving time?". 28 March 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  17. "Is it time to stop changing clocks for daylight saving time? | YouGov". yougov.co.uk.

Further reading

External links

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