Longer Sunday opening hours should herald a new era of personal freedom, consumer choice and lower prices, says consumer group

Open Sundays, the grassroots campaign group established last year to campaign for greater liberalisation of the Sunday trading laws, has welcomed the news of the Government’s intention to allow larger shops to open 24/7.

“These changes should herald a new era of personal freedom, consumer choice and lower prices,”said Adrian Pepper, founder of the Open Sundays campaign.

“People living in England and Wales should soon have the same freedom to go shopping at times of the day on a Sunday that the Scots already take for granted.

“These reforms should also help the high street catch up with online retail. It is bizarre that you can currently take delivery of your online shopping at 9am on a Sunday but you cannot visit a store to buy the same goods,” added Pepper.

Research by Open Sundays last year showed that shoppers pay significantly more for the same products in small format stores compared to the larger supermarkets, prompting calls for larger supermarkets to be given the same opening hours as smaller stores.

Last year, amendments to the Deregulation Act were tabled by Philip Davies MP and by Lord Borwick calling for the end to restrictions on Sunday trading.

“It is now the norm for adults in most families to be in full time work so the only time they can shop is at the weekend. Restricting Sunday opening makes no sense,” said Adrian Pepper.

“The current Sunday trading laws do not preserve any valuable cultural aspects of our way of life. They just make life more inconvenient. If you want to go out early on a Sunday morning looking for a wide range of fresh produce to cook for a family Sunday lunch, you cannot. If you want to go to church on a Sunday morning, there is even less time to get the shopping done.”