British Summer Time could be replaced by ‘Berlin Time’ as European politicians vote on whether to scrap it
British summer time could be replaced by ‘Berlin time’, as European politicians will vote this week on whether to abandon it for good.
The proposal would end the British ritual of putting clocks forward one hour in March and back in October.
3
MEPs are debating the change after an ‘impact assessment’ said there could be ‘adverse impacts’ on health, agriculture and road safety.
The British government could block the movement until Brexit in March 2019, but “Berlin time” could be imposed on the United Kingdom during the transition period.
The clock change has already been abandoned in some countries, including Iceland, Belarus and Turkey, and if the change is implemented, London will be on the same time zone as Berlin for six months a year.
The new European Parliament resolution states that “numerous scientific studies have failed to provide evidence of a positive effect of the biannual clock change”.
3
Research cited in the resolutions claims that after the clock change, older people are at higher risk of heart problems, while road accidents increase by a third and children perform poorly in school.
Other options will be discussed, such as switching to EU summer time all year round, which is Greenwich Mean Time plus two hours.
Ukip MEP Nathan Gill expressed concern about what British farmers or accident prevention organizations think, and added: “If the EU decides to scrap daylight saving time, that would leave Britain with a major question after Brexit.”
3
If the measurement passes through Great Britain and mainland Europe, they will retain their time difference of one hour.
Then if Britain decides to revert to British Summer Time and Continental Europe we won’t be on the same time as them for the six months from October to March after our clocks have back and that theirs will remain the same.
It is important to note that on the UK mainland DST is referred to as Central European Summer Time AND “Berlin Time” is actually simply Central European Time.
