Sunday trading hours: What does the Government want to change? How will it affect workers?

Union USDAW claims that retailers have in the past reduced or removed Sunday premiums to offset the costs of opening stores for longer

Consumers flood the shops on Oxford Street, London (Getty)

Proposals to relax Sunday trading laws in England and Wales may not make it through the Commons after the SNP promised to back Tory rebels who plan to block the measures.

Extending Sunday trading hours will, it has been argued, create jobs and boost retailers’ revenues and, in turn, the economy.

What are England and Wales’ current Sunday trading laws?

At the moment, larger retailers in England and Wales are restricted to trading for a total of six hours between 10am and 6pm on Sundays. Smaller retailers, whose premises have less than 3,000sq floor space, are able to open as normal.

What is the Government proposing?

Last year Chancellor George Osborne set out plans for the biggest shake-up of Sunday trading laws in 20 years in his summer Budget, claiming the changes would see a boost to the economy. His plan is to devolve powers over deciding Sunday trading hours to councils and elected mayors, allowing for shops to be open longer where it is believed it will be of benefit to the local economy.

He also said that allowing councils in England and Wales to decide whether larger stores should be able to stay open for longer than the current maximum of six hours could help "struggling" high streets to compete with online retailers.

Have the laws ever been relaxed?

Sunday trading laws were relaxed for eight consecutive weekends during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in a bid to boost sales over the summer period, but figures from the Office of National Statistics at the time suggested this did not work after retail sales fell by 0.2% in August 2012 compared with the month previously.

Why has the SNP said it will vote to block the relaxation of Sunday trading laws?

SNP deputy leader and economic spokesman Stewart Hosie has said the Government’s assurances that UK employment laws would be amended to protect workers from being required to work on a Sunday against their wishes do not go far enough. Scotland already has relaxed Sunday trading laws, which Mr Hosie said is supported by the SNP, but “our concerns here are rooted in the knock-on impact to Scottish workers who would be at risk of pay cuts” as a result of the relaxation.

Who else opposes the relaxation of Sunday trading?

Conservative MP has called the relaxation of Sunday trading hours “anti-family, anti-small business and anti-workers,” while a Church of England spokesperson said the changes would “erode common leisure time essential for family life and shared activities such as amateur sports, community involvement and religious observance”.

USDAW, the shop worker trade union, claims that retailers have in the past reduced or removed Sunday premiums to offset the costs of opening stores for longer, which, if it happens, is likely to affect Scottish and Northern Irish workers. This view has been echoed by Labour.

Additional reporting by PA