In a recent open letter to the Sunday Telegraph, 150 council leaders and 40 MPs urged the government to move ahead on original plans to relax Sunday Trading Laws. The letter claims that by relaxing these regulations, the economy could benefit from a £1.4 billion boost and a 9% rise in employment.
Currently, only stores covering less than 3,000 sq ft can remain open all day. Larger stores are only permitted to trade for six consecutive hours between 10am and 6pm.
The letter suggests that the Sunday trading laws are outdated because the world has “fundamentally changed” since the last update to the law in 1994. It suggests that relaxing the laws is essential in order to compete in the modern world: “our high streets have been left trying to compete with 24/7 online shopping.” With major stores closing early, people are spending less time on the high streets and it is believed that relaxing the laws could lead to a boost in sales for small shops.
Keep Sunday Special?
Besides economic concerns, the main criticism of these plans is that many workers will struggle to make time to be with their families if they are expected to work later on Sundays. The Church of England also worry that the religious importance of Sunday will be lost.
The Church of England, trade unions and small businesses have teamed up to attack the ministers’ plans to relax trading laws. They described the plans as a ‘’recipe for chaos’’ in a response letter that can be found on the Keep Sunday Special website. John Ashcroft, from the Keep Sunday Special campaign said that: “we do not believe that there is overwhelming public demand for this, or indeed overwhelming retailer demand.”
Bad News for Small Businesses?
The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), which represents thousands of independent stores, argue that relaxed trading laws will damage smaller stores. Sunday Trading Laws have meant that smaller shops have an advantage because they are able to pick up the business that would otherwise be going to major retailers. If the laws are relaxed, small businesses may take a hit on the one day of the week that they have an advantage.
The trial of longer opening hours during the London Olympics is being used as an example of how longer opening hours on Sunday do not necessarily lead to more sales. Regarding this, the open letter also says: “small shops lost trade, retail sales declined overall and more than half of staff came under pressure to work longer to cover the additional opening.”
This all comes months after David Cameron pulled controversial plans for a Commons vote to relax the trading laws in November. The original plan was to give councils the power to relax trading laws but this was disrupted by an ‘’unholy alliance’’ between MPs from the Conservative, Labour, SNP and DUP parties. Twenty Conservative MPs wrote a letter to the Telegraph urging the Prime Minister to drop these plans, citing that most people see no need for longer shopping hours. “The latest estimates suggest that small shops would lose £870 million in sales, resulting in 3,720 job losses in the retail sector.”