Britons are divided on whether or not to keep daylight saving time
Clocks are set to go back on Sunday 27 October 2024 at 2am, with Britons gaining an extra hour in bed in exchange for the nights drawing in more quickly for the duration of the winter.
But YouGov data has consistently showed that the public are divided on the necessity of the bi-annual clock adjustments, with our latest poll showing that, while 46% of Britons think we should continue to implement daylight saving time, a further 42% think we should scrap it.
The question divides the generations, with younger Britons in favour of keeping the current system and the over 65s more inclined to scrap it.
It looked briefly in 2019 like our neighbours would do away with daylight saving time when the EU parliament voted to abolish it from 2021, although this was never implemented. The last major attempt to make changes in the UK came in 2010 when a private member’s bill was brought before Parliament by Tory MP Rebecca Harris, which would have commissioned a study into the costs and benefits of scrapping the system, although it was subsequently defeated in 2012.
In the event that daylight saving time were to be abolished, a decision would have to be made on whether to stay permanently on “summer time” or “winter time”. Given the choice, most Britons (59%) would opt for the former, so that sunset would be later in the evenings even if sunrise is later in the mornings.
Only 25% prefer an earlier sunrise at the expense of the sun disappearing sooner in the evenings.
A point of curiosity for YouGov has been whether or not attitudes to daylight saving time differ depending on the time of year we ask – is opinion different when the public are confronting impending longer nights and the winter versus the prospect of longer days and the coming summer.
The answer, as it turns out, is no. Comparing answers to the same questions asked in the spring of 2023 and 2019 shows that the figures are effectively unchanged.
See the full results here
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