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Mr. Butterfill: I am grateful to you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
There will be special advantages for the banking and financial services sectors, which is particularly important in Scotland. Edinburgh is the fourth largest banking and financial services centre in the European Union, after London, Frankfurt and Paris, so it has a special reason for wanting to trade at the same time as the others.
Mr. Bill Walker (North Tayside):
Will my hon. Friend give way?
Mr. Butterfill:
I must make a little progress. I have been very generous in giving way. My hon. Friend can make his own speech later.
British business has in large measure confirmed the importance that it attaches to my Bill and the boost that it would give our national economy.
The quality of life in our country is greatly inhibited by the present arrangements. If they are changed, all our citizens would have much more opportunity to make use of the available daylight. Daylight is currently restricted, particularly in winter. Many people go to work in the morning in the dark and return home in the dark, and never have the opportunity to enjoy outside recreation for
a considerable part of the year. That affects the nation's health and the ability of schoolchildren to play sports in the afternoon.
Many organisations support a change because it would provide greater opportunities for recreation, gardening and sport. The British Medical Association says that the change would make for a healthier nation. There would be less sickness, and seasonal affective disorders would be reduced. My Bill has the support of the Sports Council, BMA, Royal Horticultural Society, Scottish Sports Council and National Playing Fields Association in England and Scotland. If the change is made, all our citizens will lead a more enjoyable life through having an extra hour of daylight in the afternoon.
At present, tourism suffers from the fact that, for a large part of the year, the daylight available is not particularly usable. We all have experience of waking up and finding that it is already light outside--but at the time that we might be able to go out and enjoy ourselves, it is already getting dark. In September, it is often dark at 7 o'clock, when some people might wish to go out and enjoy themselves.
Mr. Anthony Steen (South Hams):
People can have fun in the dark.
Mr. Butterfill:
My hon. Friend is quite right--people do enjoy themselves in the dark. They can do other things in the dark, and I shall not prevent them, but they also like to do a lot of things in daylight.
Most tourist attractions in Scotland are daylight-dependent, so Scotland would particularly benefit. If the change is made, the shoulder months of the year would be extended.
Mr. Welsh:
Will the hon. Gentleman give way now?
Mr. Butterfill:
I made it clear to the hon. Gentleman that I will not give way. Perhaps he will please allow me to continue my speech.
Tourism organisations argue that, in spring and autumn, when activities are usually curtailed, there would be a huge extension of the tourism season. The British Tourist Authority supports my measure. Studies show that the increased spend on tourism and leisure would be
£1.2 billion a year. The proposed change also has the support of the English, Northern Ireland and Wales tourist boards. A huge number of companies involved in tourism throughout the country have written urging me to present my Bill and get it through the House.
Most passion surrounding the proposed change has been aroused in Scotland, but I do not accept the assertion by some Scottish Members that change is overwhelmingly opposed there. A number of opinion polls have shown that the reverse is true. The 1992 Gallup poll showed that public opinion was evenly divided, with 42 per cent. of people in Scotland in favour of change and 42 per cent. against, with the remainder being "don't knows".
When people were told the accident figures, support for the change in Scotland increased to 69 per cent. An NOP poll in 1994 showed that 62 per cent. of Scots were in favour of the Bill. The most recent poll was organised by the newspaper Scotland on Sunday, and it showed that 55 per cent. of Scots were against change.
The polls have presented mixed information. At the very least, opinion in Scotland is evenly divided, but the evidence from the majority of polls is that it is in favour of the measure. Opposition Members who claim the reverse do not understand true opinion in Scotland.
Many Scottish farmers have written to me expressing their support for my Bill, contrary to the assertions of its opponents. Scottish farmers are in large measure in favour of change.
Mr. John Marshall (Hendon, South):
On the occasion of the previous experiment in this time nonsense, I was living in Aberdeen. Whatever the public might say in answer to hypothetical questions on opinion polls, when daylight hours were changed in the 1960s, that was most unpopular in Scotland, particularly in the north. My hon. Friend should not pay attention to opinion polls, but should talk to real Scots in Scotland, who would give him a different answer.
Mr. Butterfill:
I have done precisely that. I spent the new year in Scotland, listening to the opinions of Scottish people.
Mr. Bill Walker:
I am surprised that my hon. Friend found them able to articulate their views.
Mr. Butterfill:
Some of the Scots with whom I spent a most enjoyable time were quite merry, but my stay was an enjoyable experience.
A dairy farmer in Kirkwall in Orkney wrote to The Scotsman:
A farmer in east Lothian commented:
The debate in Scotland has generated a lot of heat, but not a lot of light in respect of Scottish opinion. I am convinced that opinion polls provide a better indication of Scottish opinion than the views of some hon. Members who purport to speak for Scotland in the House.
Mr. Robert Key (Salisbury):
For the sake of balance, given the intervention of my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon, South (Mr. Marshall), I too was working in Scotland at the time of the last experiment, as a teacher. It made not a ha'p'orth of difference whether there were six hours of daylight from 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock or from 10 o'clock to 4 o'clock except in respect of the safety aspect, which was eloquently argued by my hon. Friend, and the advantage of being able to teach sport in the afternoon.
Mr. Butterfill:
I thank my hon. Friend. I now wish to refer to some of the arguments made against the Bill by particular groups of workers. I very much understand that there are people who have to work outside and who have to get up early in the morning, for whom the Bill may present particular disadvantages. I am not without sympathy for their predicament, but I think that it has often been considerably exaggerated.
I shall deal first with post office workers. I am well aware that the Communications Workers Union has been lobbying hard against the Bill, and, in fact, has retained consultants to advise on how to conduct a campaign against it. I am also aware that certain Members of this House are sponsored by that union, and have a particular interest in the issue. Alan Tuffin, to whom I have referred, has said that there is no hard evidence of accidents to post office workers as a result of the previous experiment.
Mr. Butterfill:
I shall give way to the hon. Gentleman, who has a particular interest in the matter, as an hon Member sponsored by the Communications Workers Union.
Mr. Hain:
Does the hon. Gentleman not recall that the Conservative Government's White Paper of 1970 confirmed that the number of accidents involving postmen and women doubled during the experimental period?
Mr. Butterfill:
That was not confirmed by the letter that I received from the union, nor was it confirmed by the letter that Mr. West of the Post Office sent me when the matter was debated in 1987. Mr. West said:
The House should note that he said that there was no evidence. Mr. West continued:
Sir Peter Lloyd (Fareham):
While the hon. Member for Neath (Mr. Hain) was right to say that the number of accidents went up during the experimental period, I believe that the number went up throughout the year. The point was that there was no correlation between the increase in the number of accidents and whether the morning was dark or light.
"Dark in the morning is fine in the winter. We work by electricity anyway. What would bother me is if it would mean the clocks didn't go forward in summer. I need the sun to drive the dew off the grass for harvesting. The men would be kicking their heels for an extra hour if they didn't go forward."
"In my younger days I worked on a farm in Aberdeenshire. In those days we fed the cattle in the dark in the winter mornings and it was dark when we fed them in the afternoons, and we had to work under the poor light of paraffin lanterns, not the electric light most farms have today . . . The farmers I have spoken to around here don't seem to have any strong views one way or the other".
"Finally, although we have no evidence to support the contention, it has to be said that carrying out deliveries almost exclusively in darkness could make our delivery staff more vulnerable to criminal attack."
"I understand that current statistics do not in fact show any particular correlation between attacks and dark winter mornings."
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