Does More Sunlight Equal More Meetings?

Former Minister of State for the Environment and current chairman of the Environmental Audit Committee, Tim Yeo, has had a bright idea. He wants to move clocks forward by one hour throughout the year, and has introduced a Parliamentary Bill to achieve this.

If his Bill is successful, summer time would be British Summer Time + 1 hour and winter would be Greenwich Mean Time + 1 hour. UK time would be in line with Central European Time.

A Policy Studies Institute estimates that SDST would increase tourist related earnings by £1billion, while other estimates claim it could be as high as £3bn. Clearly it could be great for the meetings industry, increasing the tourism season well into October; lighter evenings encouraging more companies to bring there employees to this country.

They also estimate savings on electricity consumption, with there being less of a surge in energy demand from people turning on the lights early in the afternoon and making more of the light in the summer.

Yeo claims, "Recent research from Cambridge University suggests it would also save energy by reducing demand for electricity and thereby address the threat of climate change by cutting carbon emissions.”

But of course in the deepest days of winter you’ll be traveling to work in the dark. We wouldn’t see daylight until around 9.00am, later in the more northern parts of the UK.

However, the Bill will allow separate votes in the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly to decide if the change should apply in those parts of the United Kingdom. So, they may of course choose not to adopt the new times and we’d have different time zones across the UK.

The vote takes place on 26th January, some opinions are gloomy calling it ludicrous, others think it’s brilliant. What do you think? Do you want the initiative to shine brightly or should it be left in the dark. Is it a good or a bad thing for the meetings industry?

Jane Evans
Chief Executive, MIA