Open Sundays calls for Government to suspend Sunday trading laws to help retailers recover from second lockdown

The campaign group promoting greater liberalisation of the Sunday trading laws has called upon the Government to suspend the current Sunday trading restrictions in December, as part of a broader package of deregulation to help retailers recover from the impact of the second lockdowns in England and Wales.

Mark Allatt, co-founder of the Open Sundays campaign, said:

“The second lockdowns in England and Wales have been a massive blow to the retail sector as it has struggled to recover from the impact of previous government imposed restrictions on trading as part of its response to the COVID-19 crisis.

“Our economic revival will depend on as much facilitation of trade as possible. The high street needs all the help it can get. Alongside other measures to boost retail, the suspension of England andWales’s Sunday trading laws will give our retailers shot in the arm they will need in the run up to

Christmas to lead the country out of recession.

“The last time the restrictions on Sunday opening were lifted was in 2012 for the London Olympics, when Boris Johnson was Mayor of London. Longer Sunday opening hours have become part of the response for some large food stores during the COVID-19 crisis, but there has been no change in the law. When the restrictions on social distancing are lifted, many people will see the reversion to strict observance of Sunday opening hours as reinforcing an absurd legal position.”

It was proposed in the July 2015 Budget that the Sunday trading laws in England and Wales might be relaxed and shops over 280 m2 (3,000 sq ft) be able to open longer. However, this proposal was defeated in the House of Commons in March 2016 following a rebellion by a handful of Conservative MPs in alliance with Labour and the Scottish Nationalist Party, despite Sunday trading being legal in Scotland for shops of all sizes.

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Open Sundays welcomes government proposal to suspend Sunday trading laws to help retailers recover from Covid-19 crash