He assured MPs the bill did not mean devolved governments could arbitrarily change the clocks, stressing that it was merely about having the "right" to do so.

BBC: Let nations set their own time zones - peer

Presenting his Devolution (Time) Bill to the Lords on 1 July 2011, Lord Tanlaw said that Holyrood and the Welsh Assembly should be given the "right to choose" whether to change the clocks in their nations, highlighting that Northern Ireland already had the power to do so.

BBC: Let nations set their own time zones - peer

"Countries could just accommodate the divergence by not putting their clocks forward in the spring, so you'd change your time zone by one hour to bring civil time back into line with the Earth's rotation, " added Dr Whibberley.

BBC: Changes to the world's time scale debated