Changing of clocks may stop for good after Brexit

BRITAIN could be forced to end daylight saving time by the European Union after Brexit, a Lords committee has warned.

The European Commission is planning to end the changing of the clocks a month after Brexit in April 2019, during the transition period. It has raised concerns that daylight saving time disrupts people’s sleep, damages their health and inhibits productivity at work.

The plans were disclosed as Britain prepares to change the clocks back on Sunday, which could be the last time if the EU’S plans are enacted.

Ending daylight saving time had been considered under David Cameron’s premiership in 2011, but the plans were shelved after the Scottish government refused to support it.

The controversy led to accusations from Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London at the time, that Scots were prepared to reject £720 million in additional income to “stay in bed for an extra hour”.

Now, however, the Lords EU internal market committee has confirmed that the Government could be forced to reignite the row under the EU’S plans for a Brexit deal.

In its report, published today, the committee warns that the UK would be forced to make a decision between “permanent summer” and “permanent winter” under the plans.

The peers call on ministers to ignore the proposed changes imposed from Brussels, arguing that it would cause unnecessary disruption to the European Single Market.

Whilst some EU countries may benefit, they note that, due to the UK’S geographical position, the drawbacks of a permanent time zone could “differ significantly” between northern and southern regions.

They said the proposals breached the principle of subsidiarity, in which the EU should only make changes that cannot be made by individual states. Currently, EU countries change the clock in March and put it back in October at the same time to prevent unnecessary disruption to trade and transport, such as clashing timetables.

Anyone who still doubts the unwarranted intrusiveness of the EU in the affairs of member states and lives of ordinary European citizens should consider the Commission’s proposals to end daylight saving time changes across the bloc.

Brussels has decreed that all EU countries should stop changing the clock back in the autumn and forward in the spring to account for the decline in daylight during the winter months. Moreover, under the arrangements set out in the Brexit Withdrawal Act, the UK would be obliged to follow this policy during a transition period until the end of 2020 and possibly longer.

The plan would mean the UK remaining on British Summertime throughout the year for the transition period and there would then be pressure to keep the arrangements after Brexit. Indeed, if we didn’t there would be a time border in Ireland since the Republic would have to follow EU rules.

Yet if clocks do not go back to Greenwich Mean Time in the autumn, daylight would not come to some parts of northern England and Scotland until 10am in the depths of winter. This is a function of latitude and longitude, not of regulatory diktat.

Changing the clocks dates to the First World War in most European countries and has been co-ordinated across the EU for many years. The next adjustment – with clocks going back an hour – is due next Sunday.

In a report today, a House of Lords committee says the EU decision does not comply with the principle of subsidiarity, whereby individual states are best-placed to decide such matters for themselves. The fact they are not allowed to is one reason why people in the UK voted to leave.