SUMMER TIME (Hansard, 14 December 1967)

§ The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. David Ennals)
I beg to move, That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, praying that the Summer Time (No. 2) Order, 1967, be made in the form of the draft laid before this House on 28th November.
This Order has no effect in the United Kingdom, but provides that Summer Time in the Isle of Man in 1968 shall commence on 18th February, as in the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands. Hon. Members will recall that on 21st July the attention of the House was drawn to the fact that the Summer Time Order, 1967, provided for Summer Time in 1968 to commence in the Isle of Man on 7th April, whereas it provided for Summer Time to commence in the United Kingdom and Channel Islands on 18th February. This provision was made at the request of the Isle of Man Govern- 758 ment, and although it appeared at first sight to be a little unusual, the view was taken that it was for the Government and people of the Isle of Man to judge what was in their own best interests.
The Isle of Man Government have now reversed their earlier decision and have asked for the Order to be amended to provide, as has always been the case in the past, that the date on which Summer Time commences in the Isle of Man next year should be the same as elsewhere in the British Isles. The purpose of the amending Order is solely to provide for the changed view of the Isle of Man Government on the date from which Summer Time should operate in the Island in 1968.

Mr. Richard Sharpies (Sutton and Cheam)
It must be for the convenience both of the people living in the Isle of Man and those who travel there that Summer Time in the Island should come into operation on the same date as it does here. None the less, the people of the Isle of Man showed their independence originally by asking that the date of alteration should be different. While I fully supported the independent line which they took in the circumstances which then existed, I am sure that this Order should be approved.
I understand that Summer Time in the Isle of Man will cease under the Order on 27th October, 1968, and I presume that that date, which is the same as here, was decided upon because, on 28th October, the British Standard Time which we shall be debating in respect of another Bill will come into operation. Therefore, I want assurances only that this Order does not affect the question of British Standard Time which we will debate later.

§ Mr. Ennals
I can give that assurance.