Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Howe of Aberavon (Conservative). It was answered on Monday, 7 November 2005.

British Summer Time

Question: My Lords, cannot the problems that the Minister rightly states would be suffered by relative minorities be met by those minority communities adjusting their lifestyles to the conditions prevailing? Is that not demonstrated by China, which has one time zone extending from Shanghai practically to Samarkand and is able to cope with the situation? The central European time zone extends from Warsaw and Stockholm to Gibraltar and Coruna and those countries are able to cope. Would it not be hugely to the advantage of most people in this country if we had a time pattern coinciding with that of our neighbours? It would give us coincidental office hours and we would not have to adjust railway and plane timetables.

Answer: My Lords, some communities might be very happy with that, but it is clear from the debates that other communities would be very unhappy. There would be difficulties; for example, if Northern Ireland were to follow our example, there would be problems in its relationship with the Republic. It is not therefore a simple issue of everyone coalescing around a particular position.

Secondary information