Mp's To Discuss Somerset Having It's Own Time Zone
MP's will soon be meeting to discuss the important matter of time, and whether the entire country should change its clocks. One MP has submitted a plea for Somerset to have its own time zone back as it was in the days before the railway.
Online, January 31, 2012 (Newswire.com) - This week it will be discussed whether Somerset will be given its own local time zone, separate from the rest of the UK. The Conservative MP Mr Rees-Mogg is pushing this idea because he wants to revert back to a time when every region in the country set its own time. It was up until the 1840's that time was locally set around the UK, usually by churches using sun-dials, and it wasn't until 1880 that Parliament set GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) to be the standard across the country.
A massive contributor to GMT becoming the UK standard time was the Great Western railway who introduced a standardised timetable for all of their trains. This made travel anywhere in the country that much easier, but still Mr Rees-Mogg wants Somerset to be up to 15 minutes behind the rest of the UK. The MP wants parliament to seriously consider all of the factors of moving the UK into a different time zone, as it was recently proposed that the UK look into moving to Central European Time.
This proposal is the result of the division between MPs in the north and south of the country, which has been driven by the coalition government's willingness to listen to arguments for putting the clocks forward in the UK all year round. If the clocks were to go forward then MPs in Scotland and the north of England fear that there will be more hours of darkness throughout the year, which will lead to a rise in accidents for pedestrians and drivers.
If Somerset does get its own separate local time then it could lead to the entire country having different time zones for different counties. Unless an easy way of managing the time as the public travel is found, then there could be a lot of inconvenience caused to commuters. One advantage that is sure to rise from this situation though, is a rise in the sales of wholesale clocks as businesses stock up to be ready for everyone's sudden need to have several time zones displayed in their house. Otherwise phoning relatives could become a real nightmare.
It can't be said whether this legislation will be passed or not, as the government are still in discussions about the future of the time in the UK. One sure thing that can be predicted is that the north of the country will definitely be more displeased if they're in darkness for an extra hour a day.