David Warburton MP has co-signed a letter to the Sunday Telegraph and a report from the British Infrastructure Group of MPs (BIG), 'Sunday trading for the 21st Century', supporting the government's plans to devolve power to local authorities over Sunday trading rules.
According to the research, Sunday is the second busiest shopping day of the week with 44 per cent of people visiting a store on that day. Short trading hours, however, mean that some retail outlets cannot compete with online traders.
The BIG’s report is the first comprehensive study to show the extent of potential benefits to the UK economy from relaxing the Sunday trading laws. Under current legislation, larger stores are prevented from opening for longer than six continuous hours between 10am and 6pm on a Sunday.
The study found that restricting opening hours for big retailers has a damaging effect on smaller independent shops as well as cafes and restaurants, as shoppers are forced to leave high streets early. The reduced footfall also forces smaller companies to close earlier, reducing their trade.
David Warburton MP said: "The time is right to give local communities a choice about whether shops should be allowed to extend their Sunday trading hours in England; just as is already the case in Scotland. 39 of my fellow MPs have supported this position and over one hundred council leaders have written to the Communities Secretary to support the Government’s proposals. It is right that local communities and their leaders be given more control over powers for their high streets."
"Today's report reveals that in addition to helping people shop at times more convenient to them, modernised trading laws could also provide economic benefits worth £1.4 billion per year to the overall UK economy and £64 to each family in this country. These are benefits that will be welcomed by families and communities across Somerset and indeed the entire country."
The current Sunday trading rules were first introduced over 20 years ago when the Sunday Trading Act 1994 was passed. This partially relaxed the law on Sunday trading for all shops by repealing Part IV of the Shops Act 1950. There was much debate over this at the time, with three options presented to MPs on how to handle Sunday trading, where they eventually passed the comprise law we have today.
The cross-party BIG report found that plans to relax strict Sunday trading laws for big stores could result in a 9 per cent increase in employment across the country.
As a co-founder MyHigh.st, the Somerset-based e-commerce solution dedicated to helping independent shops trade online and increase their footfall in-store, David Warburton MP is a keen advocate of recent UK-wide campaigns to support British high streets.