Osborne to shake up Sunday trading laws
Sunday Trading Laws Shake-Up?
George Osborne is expected to announce the biggest shake-up to trading laws in 20 years in tomorrow’s budget. He will present a timetable that could mean larger supermarkets are freed from Sunday trading restrictions as soon as next year. Under the plans, Sunday trading hours will become a devolved issue, meaning that mayors and local councils will be able to decide on opening hours. The Treasury has reacted to research which indicates that extending Sunday shopping by two hours in London would create another 3,000 jobs and extra income of £200m a year. The move is expected to meet stiff resistance, especially since the Conservatives wrote to the Keep Sunday Special campaign during the election campaign saying that the party had “no current plans to relax Sunday trading laws.”
