As you may have already heard, Sir George Young has decided not to give MPs a chance to vote on the Daylight Saving Bill.

Under pressure from MPs, Young insistedthat even if the bill was given more time in the Commons, there’d be no chance of it getting through the House of Lords and back again before parliament goes into recess.

This isn’t the end. After a record 4,500 of you wrote to Sir George to ask for more time, MPs are already demanding that the policy be taken up again in May, when the next round of private members’ bills are submitted. If the wording stays the same, it stands a very good chance of going through.

But Young’s decision does bring this chapter of the campaign to a close, and it feels like a good moment to take a step back and remember how far we’ve come…

Lighter Later so far: 4 things to be proud of

Together we’ve pushed this issue further forward than it’s been for decades. Here’s how…

1.Lighter evenings everywhere

Together we pushed lighter evenings right up the national agenda. Mountains of media coverage – everywhere from Nuts to Newsnight – played a big part, but it was also thanks to supporters like you spreading the word and debating the issues with family and friends.

2. Busting the myths

We worked hard to challenge the popular myths and show that clock change would be good for Scotland. As a result, the Scottish branch of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents joined the Lighter Later coalition, and the National Farmer’s Union in Scotland came out in favour of the bill.

3. Breaking the rules

People told us that no-one would bother contacting their MPs without a pre-written letter, but you proved them wrong. As of midday today, Lighter Later supporters (many of whom had never done anything political before) have used our lobbying tool to send 26,349 individually-written messages to their MPs. And that’s not counting all the phone calls,meetings and Tweets you racked up at the same time.

And it worked. Thanks to your lobbying, 144 MPs (including yours – {~mp_name~}) turned up in the Commons on what should have been the quietest day of the week. If the debate had been allowed to go to a vote, the bill would have passed with a huge majority.

4. Fixing parliament?

But there’s a silver lining to this cloud of injustice. The scandal of ‘the vote that never was’ has shown just how broken the current system is, and electrified the campaign for reform. We’ll be keeping an eye on this as it develops, and getting behind it when the moment comes. Who knows, we may end up changing more than just the clocks!

Taking a breather … or not!

So for the next little while, things will probably go a bit quiet on the lighter evenings front. Until things start moving again in parliament, we can take some time to catch our breath.

We first got interested in clock change because it shows how we can save energy and tackle climate change while making communities healthier, safer and stronger. If you like the sound of that, you should take a look at the other projects we run:

The 10% challenge

More than 100,000 people, families, schools, hospitals, churches, shops, offices factories and farms are working together to cut their carbon footprint by 10% in one year.

Click here to give it a try.

Solar Schools

A groundbreaking project to help schools get solar panels by raising money from the local community. We’re currently trialling the programme with schools in Reading, Cambridge, Norwich and the Scilly Isles, and are hoping to launch it nationally later this year.

Click here to find out more.

It’s been a real privilege to work with you on the Daylight Saving Bill, so if you’re not one of the 10,000-or-so Lighter Later supporters that’s already involved with other 10:10 projects, we’d love to have you on board.

Thank you for all your amazing work so far – I really can’t say that enough!

So it’s been a week since the big House of Commons debate on the Daylight Saving Bill and the dust has settled a little.

Whilst the bill was only 6 pages long it attracted over 100 amendments tabled by a handful of MPs. Many were so barmy they weren’t considered worthy of airtime – renaming the bill ‘Berlin Time Act’ for instance. Out of the 100, 28 made it onto the list for discussion and were grouped into three – so 3 groups of amendments meaning 3 debates.

Even with overwhelming support – over 140 MPs – the chips were stacked against us. Christopher Chope MP, famous for talking out Private Members Bills, took up the whole first hour almost singlehandedly. MPs employed the rarely used Standing Order 29 (the ‘Golding Closure’) which, to cut to the chase, was simply a vote to make him sit down and shut up!

The vote half-an-hour later kicked the first block of amendments firmly to the curb – the second block also soon fell but by the time it came to the third block it was clear that there simply wasn’t going to be enough time! A small number of MPs employed further timewasting tactics which can only be described as mmm arsing around in the ‘noe lobby’. Oh how we could have done with that ‘extra hour’!

In the words of Kerry McCarthy MP (her blog is well worth following) – “It’s taken me seven years and a spell as the duty whip for Private Members’ Bills to get my head round all the technicalities, and I’m still learning”. Us mere mortals have little hope of fully grasping all that went on last Friday. All we can say for sure is that the procedural rules are crazy and the calls for reform of the system are louder than ever.

Time may have run out for this Parliamentary session, but the frustrated mood of the House and of the people who have been calling for clock change has certainly been heard in all the right places.

And now for some numbers …

- Of 160 MPs present, 70% of all words spoken were from 10 MPs.
- The same 10 MPs consistently voted to extend the debate.
- 146 MPs consistently voted to progress the debate.
- 25% of all words spoken at the debate were by one MP (approx 50mins of talking), Christopher Chope, who consistently voted to extend the debate. Ironic that there was so much blatant time-wasting in a debate about wasted time!

Mark D’Arcy over at the BBC blogged events as they unfolded – makes for a good read.

You can check out the full transcript of the debate here.

The votes on Friday were many but we’ve been through the transcript of the debate and the vote registers and pulled out the key names of who was for and against.

The roll call of honor …

Adam Afriyie, Adrian Sanders, Alan Haselhurst, Alan Whitehead, Albert Owen, Alison Seabeck, Alun Michael, Andrew Jones, Andrew Smith, Andy Slaughter, Angie Bray, Annette Brooke, Barry Sheerman, Ben Bradshaw, Ben Gummer, Bob Stewart, Caroline Lucas, Caroline Nokes, Charlie Elphicke, Charlotte Leslie, Chris Bryant, Chris Huhne, Chris Kelly. Chris Leslie, Chris White, Claire Perry. Clive Betts, Clive Efford, Damian Collins, Dan Jarvis, David Davis, David Gauke, David Heath, David Heyes, David Lidington, David Morris, David Rutley, David Tredinnick, Don Foster, Edward Davey, Fiona Bruce, Frank Field, Gavin Barwell, George Hollingbery, Gerald Howarth, Gerald Kaufman, Glenda Jackson, Graham Allen, Greg Hands, Greg Knight, Gregory Barker, Heather Wheeler, Heidi Alexander, Hugh Bayley, Ian Murray, Jack Lopresti, Jane Ellison, Jeremy Corbyn, Jessica Lee, Jim Dowd, Jim Fitzpatrick, Jim Paice, Joan Ruddock, Joan Walley, John Cryer, John Glen, John Leech, John McDonnell, John Penrose, John Randall, John Whittingdale, Jon Cruddas, Julian Huppert, Julian Smith, Julie Hilling, Justine Greening, Karen Bradley, Karen Buck, Kerry McCarthy, Kwasi Kwarteng, Laura Sandys, Margaret Hodge, Mark Field, Mark Harper, Mark Lazarowicz, Mark Pawsey, Mark Tami, Martin Vickers, Mary Macleod, Matthew Hancock, Meg Munn, Michael Fabricant, Mike Gapes, Mike Penning, Mike Weatherley, Nick Gibb, Nick Herbert, Nick de Bois, Oliver Colvile, Oliver Heald, Paul Blomfield, Penny Mordaunt, Peter Aldous, Peter Bottomley, Peter Luff, Philip Hollobone, Phillip Lee, Richard Ottaway, Robert Buckland, Robert Halfon, Robert Neill, Robert Syms, Roberta Blackman-Woods, Roger Gale, Roger Godsiff, Sarah Newton, Seema Malhotra, Shailesh Vara, Simon Burns, Simon Hughes, Simon Kirby, Stephen Hammond, Stephen Lloyd, Stephen Metcalfe, Stephen O’Brien, Stephen Phillips, Stephen Pound, Steve Brine, Steve Webb, Stuart Bell, Tessa Jowell, Tessa Munt, Theresa Villiers, Therese Coffey, Thomas Docherty, Tim Yeo, Tobias Ellwood, Tom Brake, Tom Greatrex, Tom Harris, Valerie Vaz, Zac Goldsmith.

And then in the ‘noe’ camp …

Christopher Chope, Philip Davies, Jacob Rees Mogg, Angus Brendan MacNeil, Steve Baker, Peter Bone, Stewart Hosie, Iain Stewart, Dr Elidh Whiteford, David Nuttal, Iain Stewart, Matthew Offord.

Well, thousands of you wrote to Sir George Young over the past few days to express your anger at the way the Daylight Saving Bill was scuppered on Friday and to ask him for extra time to finish the debate in a way fitting for democracy.

It was a long shot and we certainly made ourselves heard!

Sir George spoke in the Commons this morning and announced the business for the next two weeks – ie what wil be debated in the House each day. Unfortunately, he has not allocated any further time to the bill. In the questions that followed, six MPs pushed him on the issue but, while he praised Rebecca Harris MP and the bill, he said he could see no way, even with extra time, that the bill could make it through the House of Lords and back to the commons within the sitting of this parliament.

Ben Bradshaw MP has branded his response “disappointing and unconvincing”.

We’re taking advice on next steps now and will post when we have planned our next steps.

On Friday, the Daylight Saving Bill was ‘talked out’ by a couple of hostile MPs… But, it’s not over! There’s a chance to save the bill, but we need to act fast.

We might be able to get some more parliamentary time, so the supportive majority of MPs can vote it through. We just need to persuade a man named George to give it to us.

As Leader of the House, Sir George Young (to give him his proper title) decides what gets debated when. He’ll only give the bill another chance if he feels the same public pressure MPs got in the run-up to the vote. You can probably guess where this is going!

We’ve rejigged our infamous MP lobbying tool, and you can now write directly to Sir George Young, cc-ing in your MP. We don’t know exactly when he’ll make a decision but it could be as soon as tomorrow, so there’s no time to waste.

Click here to ask Sir George for more parliamentary time NOW!

Even people who don’t support the bill were appalled by the undemocratic tactics employed by a tiny minority in the Commons on Friday, and the 140-or-so MPs who rescheduled important constituency meetings to support the bill are furious.

In fact, there’s a strong sense in Westminster that Friday’s events could mark the beginning of the end for the current Private Members’ Bill system. This comment from Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw sums up the feeling pretty well:

No Private Member’s Bill in memory has enjoyed such strong all-party support and if this one can’t be given the chance of getting onto the statute book we might as well scrap the whole system of Private Members’ Bills.

There’ll be a time to decide whether we want to go down that road, but right now the clock is ticking. Together we can persuade Sir George to do the right thing, but we need to get serious numbers behind this.

We don’t want to get your hopes up too much – this is a long shot, no question. But if we pull it off, we’ll have saved the bill and shown Friday’s timewasters that they can’t put us off so easily. And if that’s not worth a try, I don’t know what is.

Let’s do it!

P.S. Massive, heartfelt thanks to everyone who’s been in touch with messages of support and encouragement over the weekend. As ever, we’re humbled and inspired by your generosity and enthusiasm. We’ll do our best to reply to everyone, but please forgive us if it takes a few days – we’re working through the backlog as fast as we can.

Sometimes things don’t go your way. Today was one of those days.

About an hour ago the Daylight Saving Bill failed to pass its Third Reading in the House of Commons.

The problem wasn’t a lack of support. Even with over 120 supportive MPs in the Commons, the support of 90 national organisations, the UK government and strong public opinion polls, a couple of hostile MPs were able to run down the clock with a series of ‘wrecking amendments’ designed to waste time, so the bill never even went to a vote. The tricks they use to hold up the process – from quoting the bible to hiding in the Commons lobby – are an affront to the democratic process.

Today’s result illustrates everything that’s wrong with the Private Member’s Bill system.

We’re really angry about this, and many MPs feel the same way (see below for a few choice reactions). More than 120 of them have given up a day of of constituency meetings to be in Westminster and support the bill. We fell foul of a broken system that’s crying out for reform, so our first job is to see if there’s another way to make this happen.

There are a few options on the table, from persuading the government to take up the legislation itself, to lobbying for more parliamentary time. But for now, I’d just like to say a massive thank you for all your hard work: lobbying your MP, donating to the campaign or just arguing for lighter evenings at the pub or around the dinner table.

Together we’ve moved the clock change debate further forward than it’s been for decades, and shown how a whole new approach to campaigning can work. We’ve built something pretty special over the last couple of years, and I can’t wait to see where it goes next.

We’ll be back in touch soon with an update, but in the meantime you can talk/vent about today’s result and possible next steps on Twitter with #lighterlater or on the Lighter Later Facebook page.

Thank you,

Daniel Vockins
Campaign manager, Lighter Later

Given strong x party support the Govt should now find time for the #daylightsavingsbill after it was talked out by handfull of wrecking MPs

— Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) January 20, 2012

Commons held hostage by Chope, Davies & SNP to prevent Daylight Saving bill passing. Friday sittings need reforming, they’re a waste of time

— Lord Slate (@LordSlate) January 20, 2012

10 MPs have managed to block the daylight saving bill by talking it out & wastIng time going through Division lobbies. #DaylightSavingsBill

— Adrian Sanders (@adriansandersmp) January 20, 2012

Shame abt #daylightsavings interesting evidence that encourages kids to do activities like sport. Filibusters = lame politics. #lighterlater

— Cllr Alex Bigham (@alexbigham) January 20, 2012