Let's call time on changing the clocks

Sunday's one-hour lie-in comes at a heavy price. It's estimated there would be 100 fewer deaths and a reduction of 200 serious injuries on the roads each year if we stopped putting the clocks back in winter.

The UK has already tried year-round BST - once during the war to maximise daylight working hours and again between 1968 and 1971. The most recent trial saw a marked reduction in road traffic deaths and injuries thanks to the lighter evenings, but was ended following pressure from the farming lobby and its objections to darker mornings in the north.

There are some who argue for adding a further hour in summer, bringing us into line with Spain, which sits on the same line of longitude. According to analysis carried out in 2010 having GMT+1 in winter and GMT+2 in summer would give Birmingham an extra 301 hours of post-work evening sunlight each year. Glasgow and Edinburgh would enjoy 175 additional hours. Critically, such a change would reduce the UK's carbon footprint by approximately 2.2 per cent as people would need to use less electricity for lighting.

It's unclear if and when the habit of changing the clocks here in the UK will change. In March 2019, the European parliament voted to do away with the tradition of changing the clocks twice each year. They decided that all European countries would decide to remain permanently on winter time or summer time - although this has yet to be implemented.

Following Brexit, the UK will not be required to make any change although it's hard to imagine us as the only country in western Europe clinging on to what is increasingly considered an anachronistic practice.

The ethical choice

The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Over 30 years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance , breakdown cover and mobility scooter insurance while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.

The Good Shopping Guide judges us to be the UK's most ethical provider.

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