---

Road Safety Bill [Lords]

I do not mean that the provision is contrary to European law. My understanding is that this will eventually be mandated by European law. Therefore, if we wait for that to take place there will not be an additional burden on our haulage industry compared with the rest of Europe. We will all be on a competitive, level playing field. However, it may be 2010 before the provision comes in, and that is the issue on which we need to agree. The right hon. Member for East Yorkshire raised a number of points, including a plea for sympathy for the owners of heritage Bentleys—of which there are not many in the estates of Ramsgate, but I am sure that those of my constituents who have a heritage Bentley tucked away somewhere will be grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. He also referred to British summer time, as did my hon. Friends the Members for Stafford (Mr. Kidney) and for Glasgow, South (Mr. Harris), and one or two other Members. I was surprised to hear so many Scots Members saying that they would be keen to see change in one form or another. We have been quite open about the research that we produced and there is no question but that a change would be of significant road safety benefit, but that is not the only issue to be taken into consideration. There would be difficulties for people in the north and for industry, agriculture and others. We have to be careful about leaping into that morass.