The Daylight Savings Bill (AKA Lighter Later) failed at its third reading in the House of Commons today.
Despite overwhelming support both inside and outside parliament, the Bill was talked out of time by just a handful of MPs.
The Bill would have required the Government to examine the case for moving the clocks forward an hour all year round and, if it found the case were proved, to conduct a clock change trial.
The change would have been of great benefit to sport and recreation, aligning our waking hours with the sunlit hours, and providing an extra hour in the afternoons and evenings, when most people are physically active. It would also have led to reduced demand on floodlights, and facilities with floodlights, and made journeys to and from sport and recreation activities safer.
Today's news is the conclusion of two years of campaigning by the Sport and Recreation Alliance, working as part of a coalition under the expert coordination of 10:10, which has brought together organisations representing tourism, road safety, communities, business and health.
We've held meetings, spoken to MPs, mobilised members and generally made a nuisance of ourselves in order to get to the point where the Bill got enough support in the Commons (the votes were won by a 120 to 10). However, time ran out in the debate today following the interventions of a handful of MPs intent on running down the clock to the point that the time allotted to a number of Bills ran out.
We'd like to thank everyone who has been involved in the campaign. We haven't given up but today's events are a bitter blow to the efforts of everyone concerned.
