Lighter Evenings (Experiment) Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support the Bill from a personal point of view, believing that many thousands of others would take the same view. For 45 years of my life, I left home every morning at 6.30, arriving home after dark, when the hour went back—biscuit manufacturers have to work very hard. I never saw my garden in daylight, except at weekends, and I used to long for the clocks to remain on British Summer Time. So did my dogs. When the clocks go back, it seems to me that there is a moment of depression, with the long winter nights stretching endlessly ahead. Keeping summer time throughout the year and double summer time for its period, would, I believe, be carried by a very large majority if the question were ever put to a referendum. Of course, I am not suggesting a referendum; I am only suggesting what the result would be. Lighter evenings can be put to so much better use than lighter mornings. They might also encourage our youth to be outside instead of endlessly watching television. One of the Government’s stated aims is to be at the heart of Europe. Then let us keep the same time as Europe. Business meetings in Europe could be so much more easily arranged. With regard to children going to school in the dark, most are now either bussed or taken in 4x4s—even after the Budget. Figures suggest that keeping summer time throughout the year would save lives. What is being put forward is only a trial and, in my view, the country should take this step. If it were to prove unpopular with the majority, which I doubt, the country could return to the status quo with no harm done.