Suspend Sunday trading laws before Christmas to give high streets a much needed boost
As the Budget approaches, Rachel Reeves has very few levers that she can pull to stimulate growth in a flatlining economy. Boxed in by the OBR, her backbenchers, and the negative impact of her last Budget, she has very few options left. There is one, however, which would at the stroke of a pen at least bring some life back into our dying high streets – the liberalisation of Sunday trading.
The Sunday Trading Act came into force over 30 years ago, allowing shops to open, but restricting opening times of larger stores - those over 3,000 square feet (280 square metres) - to a maximum of six consecutive hours between 10am and 6pm. This not only hampers business growth but also denies hardworking families flexibility in an always-on world.
The current rules were supposedly designed to protect small family-run stores from the emergence of the major supermarket chains. But now the chains have moved onto the street corner anyway, and towns are now awash with the smaller ‘Express’ and ‘Local’ stores, charging an average of eleven per cent more for the same produce that you could buy in a larger store.
During the 2012 London Olympics, the then Government realised that it would be foolish to miss the opportunity of increasing retail sales during the Olympics and so suspended the Sunday trading laws for an eight-week period. People were free to shop at a time of their choice, with no harmful side-effects. In fact sales rose 3.2% compared to the previous year for those months.
When a change in the law was last attempted in 2016, liberalisation was thwarted by the Scottish Nationalists, seeking to deny shoppers in England and Wales the same freedoms that Scots already enjoy. It is bizarre that you can take delivery of your online shopping at 9am or 9pm on a Sunday but you cannot visit a large store to buy the same items. Allowing all stores to open on a Sunday could be the shot in the arm that our high streets and shopping centres need.
The argument that people need a day off is valid. But in today’s society, that doesn’t always have to be a Sunday. The Sunday economy gives those who cannot work on weekdays the chance to earn some money – from students wanting to keep down their student loans to those who care for elderly relatives or children. Sunday shopping can sustain modern family life. Children inclined to spend time on screens alone are brought out of the house to participate in an enjoyable family experience. Not all shops would choose to open at all hours of the day, even if the law allowed them to. It is a matter of choice for them, as it should be for individuals as to whether they choose to shop on a Sunday.
The Government has been rumoured to be considering relaxing these curbs – but this bold move has now apparently been rejected. Ideally, the Government would seize this moment and liberalise Sunday trading in the Budget, alongside the proposed measures to help the hospitality industry through scrapping licensing laws. However, given this Government’s reluctance to remove these restrictions for good, Open Sundays, the voice of consumers and retailers united for reform, is calling on Rachel Reeves to suspend the Sunday trading laws for the five Sundays in the run up to Christmas as a precursor to full liberalisation. We are confident that this trial would not only be as popular as the 2012 suspension but would also be a much needed shot in the arm for our beleaguered economy.
Mark Allatt is campaign director of Open Sundays, a campaign group calling for the liberalisation
of Sunday trading laws.
