SUMMER TIME (Hansard, 26 November 1963)

§ The Joint Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. C. M. Woodhouse)
I beg to move,
That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, in pursuance of the provisions of section 2 of the Summer Time Act, 1947, praying that the Summer Time (1964) Order, 1963 be made in the form of the draft laid before this House on 12th November.
In view of the lateness of the hour, I hope the House will allow me to move this Motion briefly. It differs from the Order relating to this year only by extending Summer Time by one week longer in order that the opening date should not fall on Easter Day.

§ Sir Anthony Hurd (Newbury)
May I ask my hon. Friend briefly whether we are to continue having these ad hoc Orders under the principal Act year by year. Surely the time must be coming 240 when it is desirable to review the effect and the term of Summer Time. We seem to be advancing the summer into the third week in March in 1964. Very soon we shall be adopting Central European Time altogether and forgetting all about Greenwich Time.
I wonder where we are going to, and whether the Home Office really consults representative bodies. I am thinking not only of the farming community, who have a vital interest in the matter, but also of women's institutes and others who have a very close interest in the time when the sun rises and sets. Do the Home Office just think up a date, having discovered when Easter falls, and then decide that Summer Time shall commence a week before? We seem to be dodging about a lot without any clear idea of our purpose or of whether Summer Time as we have now arranged it is best for this country. I hope that at some time this House will have an opportunity of discussing the matter very thoroughly.

§ Mr. Woodhouse
If I may have leave to speak again, I sympathise with my hon. Friend's representations. Deciding the date is not a purely random operation, as he fears. Before deciding upon the present limited extension of Summer Time, which is three weeks more at each end, we consulted, I believe, 171 different bodies whose opinions on the subject were, unfortunately, divided roughly half and half. We have had further comments in the past year from some of those whom we had consulted and who felt strongly about the matter. The only body that has expressed disquiet about the present extension of Summer Time is the Scottish Farmers' Union. We have had favourable comment from a number of bodies, including the British Travel and Holiday Association and the British Hotels and Restaurants Association.
There are difficulties both about abolishing Summer Time and about carrying it through the whole year, and until public opinion finally crystallises itself we are proposing to continue, as at present, with limited extensions, which may, however, as in this case, sometimes be made rather longer than usual. I hope that my hon. Friend will 241 agree that this empirical approach is the most satisfactory one until the public generally have made up their minds exactly what they want.