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Lighter Evenings (Experiment) Bill [HL]

My Lords, of course the noble Lord is right; I said that this was a question of management and convenience. People in the United Kingdom cross the border more casually and for a shorter time compared with people who face checks when they cross the Channel, so there would be a slight change there. I argue that there is no great and wonderful answer. I actually think that we are arguing on the margin. There are minor benefits here and there, backwards and forwards. Lighter evenings become more intense at some times of the year and less intense at others. Coming out of a long, gloomy and, for us, surprisingly cold and dark winter, lighter evenings may seem more attractive than they might have done if we had a mild winter. I suggest simply that the benefits could be wonderful, but they would always be on the margin, and they would change depending on which part of the United Kingdom you are in. This debate has gone on long time. The road safety argument, followed by the leisure time argument, probably has the greatest force; but those arguments change as the amount of daylight up and down the country changes. If the Minister knows a way in which we can address this matter more coherently, I should be interested to hear it. However, we are talking about changing matters of behaviour and how we address those who lose out. Does the inconvenience of a change justify the benefits? On the day-to-day convenience of travelling across an internal border, I live in Berkshire and buy my milk in Wiltshire. For those two counties to have different time zones would be incredibly inconvenient for me at times. That would be the level of boundary for Scotland or Wales. It may be right that one can change one’s watch and get used to the pattern, but it is an inconvenience. How much inconvenience are we prepared to put up with? That is the fundamental question.