Motion to keep clocks forward one hour is thrown out by MPs (From Gazette Series)

Filton and Bradley Stoke MP Jack Lopresti 'disappointed' after motion to keep clocks forward is thrown out

9:10am Sunday 5th February 2012 in Thornbury news By Marion Sauvebois

A MOTION designed to help prevent hundreds of road accidents each year and boost employment has been thrown out by the House of Commons.

The Daylight Saving Bill set out to move UK clocks forward by one hour all year round.

Its supporters claimed that lighter evenings, especially during rush hour, would help save lives and make people feel safer going out at night-time.

They also argued that it would allow the tourism sector to expand and create a number of new jobs in the long-run. Farming was expected to benefit from the change as well.

Yet, a group of MPs combined to scupper the motion by talking it out of time in Parliament.

Filton and Bradley Stoke MP Jack Lopresti had been a strong advocate of the bill and its potential for growth in the area.

He told the Gazette: "I was bitterly disappointed that some of my parliamentary colleagues talked the bill out.

“The change to our clocks would create many benefits for the South West and our local area. The main benefit would be job creation through a boost to tourism and leisure industries locally. The national job creation for the time change is put at 80,000."

Mr Lopresti said the future success of the bill would now depend on ministers taking it over and he remained "hopeful".

The Daylight Saving Bill would have commissioned a detailed study into the costs and benefits of moving the clocks forward to Greenwich Mean Time plus one hour in the winter (GMT +1) and GMT +2 in the summer, with a possible three-year trial.

Members of the farming community in South Gloucestershire had also expressed an interest in test-running it.

Richard Cornock, owner of New House Farm in Tytherington, said moving the clocks forward would have had many advantages for farmers but also possible shortcomings.

"I guess with the bill, farmers could have got more work done before it gets dark," he said.

"I’m a dairy farmer and it’s a struggle to get everything done in the day. Although it would also mean that it would be dark for longer in the morning in winter."

However, a three-year experiment would have been much too long according to him.

He added: "I would have been in favour of a trial. But maybe for a year or two, not more. It would not have done any harm to give it a go and see."