Open Sundays lobby group issues fresh call for more relaxed Sunday trading laws

Campaigners have issued a fresh call for greater liberalisation of the Sunday trading laws in the run up to the general election.

The lobby group Open Sundays urged the next government to abolish current Sunday trading laws and to allow larger shops to open 24/7.

“These changes would herald a new era of personal freedom, consumer choice and lower prices - and would be a vote winner for any party promising to abolish these archaic laws,” said Mark Allatt, co-founder of the Open Sundays campaign.

Plans to relax laws in England and Wales to allow shops over 3,000 sq ft to open longer were outlined in the July 2015 Budget. But the proposal was defeated in the House of Commons following a rebellion by Conservative MPs in alliance with the SNP.

Open Sundays said Sunday restrictions forced shoppers to pay significantly more for products in small-format stores because larger stores were unable to open for the same number of hours.

“These simple reforms would also help the high street catch up with online retail,” said Allatt. “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.”

A survey by Bridgethorne Shopper Index for The Grocer in 2015 found 61% of shoppers believed larger stores should be allowed to open longer on a Sunday, although the backing was far more mixed than some politicians and supporters of the move had claimed.