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Dr. Godman: Ask him whether he has done the same.
Mr. Home Robertson: I confess that I have had precisely four letters on this subject from my constituency, two for and two against, but I do not rely only on the postman to gauge opinion in my constituency. I must tell my hon. Friends who violently oppose the Bill that I am out and about in my constituency quite often and I have talked with many Labour supporters.
Mr. Home Robertson: I think that my hon. Friend will have to contain himself; we shall hear from him again.
We have made a little headway because we know a little more about who is behind the daylight extra campaign--certain leisure groups that think that they can make some money out of it.
Sir Teddy Taylor (Southend, East)
rose--
Mr. Home Robertson:
I shall give way to the hon. Gentleman, who used to represent Glasgow, Cathcart. He represents somewhere else now.
>Sir Teddy Taylor: Sir Teddy Taylor-->
Is the hon. Gentleman aware that my wife telephoned me two minutes ago to say that the
"The Time, The Place" programme had conducted a massive telephone poll which showed massive public opposition throughout the United Kingdom to the Bill? Is
Mr. Home Robertson:
I am not remotely surprised to hear that that poll has demonstrated overwhelming public opposition to this dotty idea.
Mr. Home Robertson:
The hon. Member for North Tayside (Mr. Walker) can make his own speech in a minute. Oh, all right--I shall give way to him.
Mr. Walker:
Is the hon. Gentleman aware that The Press and Journal in Aberdeen has conducted a large poll this week which clearly shows that 14.5 per cent. of those people are in favour and 86.5 are against?
Mr. Home Robertson:
I am not remotely surprised by that evidence. It certainly confirms my own experience from the discussions I have had with my constituents and people elsewhere.
I suspect that the people behind the proposition are the dark forces in the City who want to be able to telephone Zurich without checking their watches.
Mr. Butterfill:
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr. Home Robertson:
We are told about the economic advantages which, it is alleged, will flow from the measure.
Mr. Butterfill:
Will the hon. Gentleman give way on that?
Mr. Home Robertson:
The hon. Member has been on his feet for about half an hour. [Hon. Members: "More."]
I know that many others want to speak, and I should like to conclude my remarks as quickly as possible.
There are alleged economic advantages to be had from the measure; the hon. Member for Bournemouth, West referred to the interests of the banking industry and the financial sector. Many of the people who work in that sector live in my constituency and work in the insurance companies and banks in Edinburgh. I have no evidence that they are unduly enthusiastic about his proposal. I was advised by a banker earlier this week that it is an advantage to be in a time zone one jump to the west of central Europe, because it makes it possible to overlap with the trading time in New York, so there are arguments on both sides of this one.
Is it so difficult to cope with time zones? Australia has three time zones. I am not aware that its economy is grinding into the dust because its business men must take account of time zones when going about their work. The United States of America has five time zones. I am not aware of any suggestion that Chicago should be shifted on to New York time to facilitate business.
If the proposal is such a good idea, if it will make people so happy and be so good for tourism and everything else, will the hon. Member for Bournemouth, West tell me now--I would give way to him on this one--
whether there is any initiative in Germany for it to move on to Moscow time, or any initiative in Sydney to put it on to New Zealand time? If he is right that it is a good idea for Britain to be able to move an hour forward, presumably the same argument holds for people in other time zones. Logically, if that were so, time zones would be moving around the whole world again.
Mr. Butterfill:
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, finally, for giving way. It is nonsense to suggest that countries would want to move time zones in the way that he says. May I deal, however, with his point about who is behind the Bill? All hon. Members have been sent a full briefing by the Bill's supporters. I have here a full list of the supporters, nearly 200 of them, and it is available to every hon. Member, most of whom have been sent the list of the people behind my campaign. In case the hon. Gentleman has not received it, I shall cross the Floor of the House and hand it to him.
Mr. Home Robertson:
That is something to look forward to--the hon. Gentleman following the hon. Member for Torridge and West Devon (Miss Nicholson) and my hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Mr. Howarth) across the Floor of the House.
Mr. Macdonald:
My hon. Friend might like to know that I wrote to the daylight extra campaign asking who were the main donors to its campaign, and it refused to let me know. It just sent me a list of the organisations that were supporting the campaign, but no list of who was donating the money.
Mr. Home Robertson:
I had the same experience. Last year, I saw one of the big advertisements in, I think, the London Evening Standard citing massive support for the Bill and giving the list. I wrote to the daylight extra campaign to ask who its backers were, and I am still waiting for a reply. We should be told. It would be interesting.
I have given some thought to the possibility that businesses, individuals and local authorities could counteract and sidestep the idiocy of this legislation by altering their timetables so that children could go to school during twilight at least, as they do now. I suppose it would be possible for local authorities, such as Strathclyde regional council perhaps, to opt to remain on GMT for the purposes of school timetables, but it is not as simple as that.
I return to my point about dairymen and the relationship between what different members of the same household do. Children going to school on one timetable cannot be detached from the timetable that applies to people going to work, bus and train timetables and all the rest of it. People cannot be that flexible.
The leisure industry, however, has some flexibility. There is nothing to stop people who are on holiday or those who have spare time playing golf later at night if they want to. I do not accept, therefore, that the Bill would make life much easier or be beneficial to the tourist industry.
Mr. John MacGregor (South Norfolk):
As I shall refer to advantages to business, I should declare that I have a few business interests, and they are in the Register of Members' Interests. There is nothing wrong in businesses advancing, and putting to hon. Members, causes that they believe will be of a substantial benefit, not only to their businesses, profits and the United Kingdom economy, but to their employees.
The hon. Member for East Lothian (Mr. Home Robertson) advanced many strange arguments. One was that golfers could play at 11 o'clock in the evening and happily find their balls. Another involved who are the backers of the Bill.
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