Government ‘to reflect’ on Sunday shop hours

THE Labour Party has asked the Prime Minister for "clarification" of whether the temporary restriction on Sunday-trading hours ( News, 3 August) will be made permanent. 

Emergency legislation has allowed large shops to open all day on Sun­days, instead of for six continuous hours, during the Olympics and Para­lympics ( News, 23 March). In May, the Business Secretary, Dr Vince Cable, gave his "absolute assurance" that the emergency legislation would not be used as a "Trojan horse" to introduce wider deregulation  ( News, 4 May).

On Monday, however, a spokesman for the Prime Minister stopped short of giving a cast-iron assurance that the Sunday-trading rules would not be relaxed permanently after the Olympics and Paralympics. He said: "There was a specific Act of Parlia­ment passed for the period of the Olympic and Paralympic games - we are a couple of weeks into that. . . I am sure that people will want to reflect on the experiences of those weeks. A number of people want to look at this issue."

In a letter to the Prime Minister on Tuesday, the Shadow Business Secre­tary, Chuka Umunna, asked for "clarification on the Government policy on the restriction on Sunday trading hours". He said that a perma­nent change to Sunday-trading laws would break "all the promises made to Parliament, business, and to those working in the retail sector. This is a serious matter, not least because many of those who agreed to support the Act [suspending Sunday-trading rules] did so be­cause they were told it would not be used as a Trojan horse for further change."

Speaking on Radio 4's Today pro­gramme on Monday, Mark Wallace, a spokesman for the Institute of Directors, said that the Sunday-trading rules should be relaxed permanently to give retailers "the opportunity to compete as much as they can" with internet retailers.

Olivia Darby, a spokeswoman for  Keep Sunday Special, told Radio 4's You and Yours the same day that she hadn't "seen any evidence at all that longer opening hours would help the economy at this difficult time. . . If shops open for longer, people aren't suddenly going to have additional in­come to spend in those extra hours."

On Monday, the chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, James Lowman, said: "Current Sunday-trading rules are the only competitive edge that local shops have over their much larger counter­parts, and removing that advantage could be disastrous for many con­venience stores across the country."

The president of the National Federation of Retail Newsagents, Alan Smith, said: "We will now be stepping up activity to remind the Government that it has previously committed to helping and supporting small shops, and to ensure that this temporary move does not become permanent."

On Tuesday, a spokesman for Sainsbury's told the Financial Times that the company did not believe that "people are looking for Sunday trading to be extended on a permanent basis."

Church House, Westminster, has said that the C of E strongly opposes "any attempts permanently to erode the special nature of Sunday, which legislation still reflects".