The History of British Summer Time (BST)
Who Invented Daylight Saving Time?
The idea came from a man who watched the city sleep through his favourite hours. William Willett built houses in London. He also rode his horse early, through summer mornings when the sun was already high and every curtain was still drawn.
In 1907 he published The Waste of Daylight. The pamphlet argued that the country was burning lamp oil and candles in the evening while ignoring free daylight at dawn. His fix: shift the clock so those daylight hours moved to the end of the day.
Willett's proposal was oddly precise. He wanted an 80-minute advance, applied in four 20-minute steps on successive Sundays in April. Clocks would fall back the same way in September. He campaigned relentlessly. Winston Churchill backed him. Gardening and golf societies backed him. Parliament debated the idea several times.
It never passed. Willett died in 1915. A decade before his scheme became law.
When Did the UK Start Using BST?
War did what Willett could not. In 1916, coal was a strategic asset. Every hour of artificial light burned fuel that factories and ships needed.
Germany and Austria-Hungary moved first. They introduced daylight saving on 30 April 1916. Britain followed within weeks. The Summer Time Act 1916 set clocks forward one hour from 21 May to 1 October. Willett's four-step plan was scrapped for a single jump.
It worked. Evening lighting demand fell. The act was renewed each year of the war. By the armistice, summer time was embedded.
What Was British Double Summer Time?
The Second World War demanded more. From 1940, the UK stayed on UTC+1 all year. That was British Standard Time: permanent summer time, even through the dark months.
Then, from the summer of 1941 through 1945, clocks went forward another hour. The country was now on British Double Summer Time. UTC+2.
The practical effect was stark. In winter, clocks ran one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. In summer, they ran two hours ahead. Workers got longer daylight evenings. The blackout shifted to match the factory day. War production gained every possible minute of usable light.
The 1947 Fuel Crisis
After the war, Britain returned to peacetime timekeeping: GMT in winter, BST in summer. Then the winter of 1946-47 hit. It was brutally cold. Coal stocks collapsed. The government declared a fuel crisis and reached for a familiar tool.
British Double Summer Time returned for the summer of 1947. Clocks stayed at UTC+2 from April to August. It was the last time BDST was ever used.
The 1968-71 Experiment: Year-Round Summer Time
The most divisive chapter in UK timekeeping began on 27 October 1968. That autumn, clocks did not go back. The whole country stayed on UTC+1, rebranded as British Standard Time.
The government wanted to test a theory. Permanent summer time, supporters argued, would cut road accidents, boost tourism, and make evenings brighter for everyone.
Three winters killed the theory.
Why the Experiment Failed
The problem was the morning. Scotland was dark. Children walked to school without daylight. Farmers worked the first hours of the day without light. Road accident data flipped the script: morning casualties rose, wiping out any evening reduction.
Opposition hardened in Scotland. The House of Commons voted to end the experiment. On 31 October 1971, clocks went back to GMT. The UK has never tried permanent BST again.
How Did the EU Change UK Clock Rules?
For two decades, Europe ran on a patchwork. Different countries changed clocks on different dates. A flight from London to Paris might cross a time-zone boundary one weekend, then cross back on a different weekend for the return trip. Broadcasting schedules tangled. Business hours misaligned.
The European Union fixed it with Directive 2000/84/EC. From 2002, every member state changed clocks on the same two dates: the last Sunday of March and the last Sunday of October. The change time was set at 01:00 UTC.
The UK adopted the directive through the Summer Time Order 2002. That statutory instrument is still in force.
Does the UK Still Follow EU Clock-Change Dates After Brexit?
Yes. The UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020. It has not changed its daylight saving arrangements. Clocks still go forward on the last Sunday of March and back on the last Sunday of October, at 01:00 UTC.
The EU's own plan to scrap the clock change has stalled. The European Parliament voted in 2019 to end seasonal changes by 2021. The EU Council never approved it. No member state has been forced to pick a permanent time.
In the UK, campaigners push rival positions. The "Lighter Later" campaign wants permanent BST. The British Sleep Society published a position statement in October 2024 recommending permanent GMT, citing circadian health evidence. The government has taken no legislative action as of October 2026.
Will the UK Ever Stop Changing the Clocks?
No bill is before Parliament. Time is a reserved matter: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland cannot set their own zones. Westminster decides.
The politics are stuck. Any move to permanent BST faces the same Scottish opposition that killed the 1968-71 experiment. Any move to permanent GMT faces the leisure and tourism industries, who value long summer evenings. The status quo survives because changing it would force a choice no government wants to make.
The next clock change is set. Clocks go forward on Sunday 29 March 2026 at 01:00 GMT. They go back on Sunday 25 October 2026 at 02:00 BST.