Lighter Later: help us get Vince's vote

Lighter Later It's now just three days to the big Daylight Saving Bill vote on 3 December.

If this goes through (and there's a real chance that it will), lighter evenings will be closer than at any time in the last 30 years. Can you help persuade the Business Secretary to back the bill?

Lots of MPs are planning to vote in favour, but we need government ministers to see the light as well. The UK's time system is the responsibility of Vince Cable and Ed Davey's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), and their support is essential in getting the bill through parliament.

Last weekend's Sunday Times gave us a big boost, quoting a senior government source as saying:

There is a very strong majority in both Houses in favour of this bill. The government has decided to give it a fair hearing.

This is fantastic news, and now we can seal the deal. Cable put his name to a similar proposal back in 2004, and a strong show of public support could persuade him to do the same next week.

Let's help BIS back the bill with confidence – will you tell Vince Cable to give lighter evenings a chance? Use the example text below to email him now.

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Example text

EDIT AND SEND TO mpst.cable@bis.gsi.gov.uk (CC mpst.davey@bis.gsi.gov.uk, bis@lighterlater.org)

Dear Vince Cable,

I am writing to you in your capacity as Business Secretary to ask that you support the Daylight Saving Bill, which has its second reading on 3 December.

The BIS website says that any change to the UK's clocks would need to "have full regard to the effect on business and transport links with other countries, health and safety issues such as road traffic accidents, and social and community life." By insisting on a cross-departmental review of the impacts before a trial could be considered, the Daylight Saving Bill has been specifically designed to take such concerns into account. This cautious, evidence-led approach has enabled even the National Farmers' Union in Scotland to back the bill.

In 2004, you jointly proposed the Lighter Evenings Bill. In doing so, I am sure you shared my belief that lighter evenings would be good for Britain. Six years later, we have a once-in-a-generation chance to make this plan a reality. Over the past six months, an unprecedented coalition of over 65 national organisations has united behind the change, including such unusual bedfellows as 10:10, the AA, and the FA.

The campaign for lighter evenings has had editorial backing from The Sun, The Observer and The Express, as well as cross-party support in the Commons. Opinion polls now show the clock change commanding a comfortable majority of public support in both England and Scotland.

You have a chance to enact a life-saving, carbon-cutting, sport-boosting policy which has the potential to create 80,000 new jobs during a time of economic hardship. As a Lighter Later supporter, I'm asking that you do everything in your power to support the Daylight Saving Bill.

Yours sincerely,

[name]

P.S. For an overview of the Lighter Later campaign, see http://bit.ly/fqFdta; for an in-depth analysis of the benefits for Scotland, see http://bit.ly/9VZX4S; and for a full list of the organisations in the Lighter Later coalition, see http://bit.ly/guv8hx

UK