Scotland will not be ‘steamrollered’ into a new time zone — Carmichael

Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael said this week that changes to the UK’s time zone will only go forward with the consent of the Scottish people.

The Northern Isles MP was commenting after reports that the Government will not oppose a new Parliamentary Bill that could see the clocks go forward by an hour all year round.

The Daylight Savings Bill would allow for a three-year trial to examine the impact of moving the clocks forward, but only after a full assessment of costs and benefits of such a move had been assessed across government.

Mr Carmichael said: “Obviously, in the Northern Isles, in the depths of winter, there is very little daylight and where we start and end the day will not change that.

“We must be careful, therefore, not to overstate the case for change. That said, I have always been of the view that a change of this sort would be bad for us.

“I hope that local people will take some reassurance from the fact that they will not be steamrollered into a new time zone by a well-resourced lobby in the south-east of England.”