Is British Summer Time still fit for purpose?

Studies suggest it increases physical activity – TV ratings for the evenings drop when the clocks go forward in spring. It certainly reduces electricity used on lighting – though in the US it has been suggested that these savings are offset by extra energy consumed in leisure activities. It seems to reduce traffic accidents, which rise after dark, and is popular with business, because longer evenings encourage people to shop.

What are the downsides?

The actual changing of the clocks is inconvenient and unpopular, and has tangibly negative effects. Scientists in Denmark who studied 185,419 people diagnosed with depression found that the condition soared by 11% when the clocks went back in autumn, caused by the disruption of body clocks and the suddenly shortened evenings.

Other studies have found that the risk of heart attacks, strokes and traffic accidents grows immediately after the clocks go forward in the spring, and judges are more likely to dole out harsh sentences then, presumably owing to the loss of an hour of sleep. A 2019 YouGov poll found that people in the UK were moderately in favour of keeping BST, by 44% to 39%. But a clear majority of Britons (59%) would like to remain permanently on summer time.

So why don’t we do that?

Britain tried it between October 1968 and October 1971. Harold Wilson’s government adopted GMT+1 all year round, or British Standard Time, as an experiment. The Home Office reported that it caused a substantial drop in road fatalities in the evening and a slight increase in the morning, as well as considerable savings in electricity and an increase in outdoor sports.

Official polls found that it was supported by 50% of the population and opposed by 41%, but it was unpopular in Scotland, where in midwinter the Sun didn’t rise until as late as 10am, meaning that children walked to school in the dark.

Business and tourism were in favour of British Standard Time; farmers, the construction industry and other outdoor workers with early starts, such as postmen, objected to having to work for hours in the dark. On a free vote in 1970, the House of Commons voted by 366 to 81 in favour of returning to the old system.

What positions have other nations taken?

Most nations that aren’t near the equator observe daylight saving in some form. The major exceptions are India, Russia and China. But whatever position a nation takes, it seems to remain controversial in some quarters. Russia instituted permanent daylight saving in 2011, then rejected it altogether in 2014.

In 2019, the European Parliament voted to do away with daylight saving, though the proposal has yet to be approved by the European Council. In the US, by contrast, a bipartisan group of senators unanimously voted through the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021, which would make year-round daylight saving time the law of the land; neither President Biden nor the House of Representatives has yet approved the measure.

Is any change likely in the UK?

In 2010, a Private Member’s Bill was proposed calling for year-round daylight saving. Alex Salmond called it an attempt to “plunge Scotland into morning darkness”. It was filibustered out of Parliament; Jacob Rees-Mogg added a wrecking amendment giving Somerset its own time zone.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents is still campaigning for year-round BST, which it estimates would reduce road deaths by 70 per year and would have a host of other benefits, including a reduction in crime, which increases in the hours of darkness.

Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/society/956306/is-british-summer-time-still-fit-for-purpose