Northern Ireland may have different time zone to rest of UK due to Brexit, peers claim

BORIS JOHNSON’S Brexit deal could force Northern Ireland to operate in a different time zone to the rest of the UK for half the year, peers have warned.

The European Parliament voted last year in support of a proposal that would put an end to the twice-yearly changing of the clocks to accommodate extra daylight hours.

Under an EU directive, all 27 states currently switch to summer time hours on the last Sunday of March and back to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on the last Sunday of October – a pattern the UK follows.

But under a potential swap by Brussels to a “double summer time” arrangement, Lords have warned the Withdrawal Agreement could see Northern Ireland be one hour ahead for six months every year.

It would mean the 1.8m people living in the six counties would follow summer time hours, even when those in Great Britain wind their clocks back by 60 minutes in the autumn.

The fears over an obligation for

Northern Ireland to follow Brussels’ lead if the EU does adopt double-summer time stem from Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal, which signed Northern Ireland up to continuing to follow EU rules on goods and agriculture.

Any EU-wide shift in timekeeping would apply to Ireland and, due to the terms of the PM’s divorce treaty, Northern Ireland might have to follow suit. “Were this proposal (for double summer time) to become EU law under its current single market legal basis, Northern Ireland may be obliged under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement and the protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland to align with the EU and thus institute a time border with Great Britain,” said the Lords’ EU internal market sub-committee in its report, Clock changes: is it time for change?.

The group of cross-party peers have called on the Government to “give urgent further consideration” to the impact the Brexit agreement could have if the EU does decide to make the switch permanent.