Sunday trading - the impact of possible further liberalisation

The Government is currently considering the impact of liberalising trading hours and I look forward to the results of their consultation.

Personally, I am against the further liberalisation of Sunday trading hours. My understanding is that the recent campaign for longer opening hours is being led by supermarkets rather than consumers. There is no evidence that consumers are unhappy with the current opening hours and, therefore, I do not see any pressing need to reform the law.

As they stand, the existing regulations provide smaller shops with a much-needed advantage over larger stores. Small independent retailers which are currently able to open earlier and close later would lose valuable custom to supermarkets if the law changed. Supermarket dominance would be likely to increase leading to a less competitive market and therefore less choice for the consumer.

We must also consider the impact of extended opening hours on employees and their families. While the existing legislation gives employees the right to refuse to work on Sundays, in practice it seems as if many stores only take on people who are willing to work any day of the week. Therefore, longer working hours on Sunday will put more pressure on employees and employers to treat Sunday as a normal working day.

With more people working longer hours on Sundays, there is a risk that many parents could have less time to spend with their children. Given the current feeling that there is a need for parents to be more, rather than less, involved in their children's lives, it does not seem sensible to amend legislation so that families may end up with less time together at the weekend.

I also feel that having one day a week which offers a break from full-blown consumerism is a positive thing and, therefore, do not see any need to liberalise the law on Sunday trading.

|Home

|Issues

|Local

|National

|International

|Press

|Norman and his work

|Useful Links

|Contact Norman

|Site map and Search

|Norman's flickr page

|Norman's Facebook page

|National LibDem site