Supporters had claimed time change would cut road deaths and energy use and would boost jobs and tourism
Campaigners hoping to get UK clocks moved forward by an hour all year round have accused a small group of MPs of dashing their hopes by talking a private member's bill out of time in the House of Commons on Friday.
The government made it clear that it would find no extra time in the current parliament for the daylight saving bill despite ministers having backed Rebecca Harris, the Conservative MP for Castle Point, in Essex, in her call for a review of the pros and cons of a change.
Supporters claimed the time change would cut road deaths and energy use and would boost jobs and tourism.
Harris told the Guardian the process had been "incredibly frustrating", adding: "The clear will of the House was for the bill to proceed.
"It had amazing cross-party support and amazing support out in the country. I had hoped there would be a 'what's not to like' aspect of this, simply to ensure we had a really good quality review and something we could then have a debate on."
Harris's bill would have commissioned a detailed study into the costs and benefits of moving the clocks forward to Greenwich Mean Time plus one hour in the winter (GMT +1) and GMT +2 in the summer, with a possible three-year trial.
A core group of 10 MPs combined to scupper the bill, complaining that, while the Northern Ireland administration had the power to veto any UK change, neither the Scottish parliament and Welsh Assembly nor the leaders of the Scottish and Welsh governments would have comparable rights.
Tom Mullarkey, the chief executive of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: "We are bitterly disappointed that years of campaigning have been unwound so casually in this cynical and undemocratic way.
"It is outrageous that a proposal with so much support, and that has the potential to save lives, create jobs and cut carbon emissions, has effectively been wrecked by just two or three politicians.
"They should be ashamed that their contrived interventions have scuppered this opportunity to ease the suffering of many families in this country – the people whose lives they were elected to protect."
Daniel Vockins, the campaign manager for the Lighter Later campaign, run by the climate change organisation 10:10, said: "Today's result is yet another damning indictment of our broken private member's bill system.
"Even with over 120 MPs staying in Westminster to vote in favour of the bill today, the support of 90 national organisations, the UK government, and strong public opinion polls, it's not possible to get a bill past a couple of MPs determined to talk it out of receiving a proper vote."
The business minister, Ed Davey, said afterwards: "While there are a number of possible arguments put forward over the years about changing our time zone, we have always stated that there needs to be consensus on the issue.
"We have seen today that we have not been able to reach consensus. The government will now need to decide how it will take this issue forward in order to reach that consensus."
Christopher Chope, the Tory MP for Christchurch, in Dorset, said: "We know that the Scottish parliament and that MPs representing Scottish constituencies in this House do not support a change that would make winter mornings in Scotland even colder and darker than they are already.
"If this parliament changes the time zone for the United Kingdom against the wishes of the people of Scotland, that is going to give extra ammunition to those people in Scotland who are campaigning for an independent Scotland."
He added that the government could have launched an independent review on the pros and cons of the idea without legislation.
The Scottish National party's Angus MacNeil, the MP for the Western Isles, said: "If there is any perception of high-handedness from Westminster we will probably see last week's figure of 1,000 new members for the SNP being dwarfed."