Sunday trading reforms 'dead in the water' after Commons defeat

A government plan to relax Sunday trading laws in England and Wales has been rejected after a larger-than-expected mutiny of Conservative MPs.

A total of 27 government backbenchers voted with Labour and the Scottish National Party against the change, which was part of the wider enterprise bill, and the measure was beaten by 31 votes.

"Cameron failed to reach a compromise with unconvinced [Tory] MPs, who argued that it was necessary to 'keep Sunday special' and protect family time for shop workers," The Guardian says.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"Sunday is still special for many and the government should ... ensure that there is a proper place for Sundays, for families, for businesses and for workers," Conservative MP David Burrowes, who led the rebellion, said during the debate. The politician also tabled an amendment seeking to limit the change, which would have allowed larger shops to stay open longer on Sundays, to seaside towns with high levels of tourism.

The SNP also voted against the extension of trading hours, even though the plan would apply only to England and Wales. Shops in Scotland have no restriction on Sunday trading, opening the party up to charges of hypocrisy from the government.

"The SNP say their opposition is down to concerns that expanding Sunday opening in England and Wales would threaten the extra pay Scots workers get for working those days," said the BBC's political editor, Laura Kuenssberg.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid said the party’s action was "childish and hypocritical".

Sources at No 10 told The Guardian the changes were now "dead in the water". An eleventh hour compromise of a pilot scheme in 12 areas, put forward too late to be put to the vote, will also now be withdrawn.

The scale of the rebellion is a setback for Chancellor George Osborne. "The defeat is being seen as a bitter blow for Mr Osborne, who called for shops to be allowed to open longer on Sundays in his summer Budget," Sky News says.

It also potentially highlights the scale of the unrest within Tory ranks and the lack of control David Cameron is able to exert over his party ahead of the contentious vote on membership of the European Union in June. The defeat was only his second in this parliament since being elected with a small working majority last May.

Government faces Sunday trading law defeat - again

9 March

Another bloody nose looms for the government this evening over its plan to overhaul Sunday trading laws in England and Wales.

Its proposal to devolve restrictions on opening hours for larger shops to local councils, first announced in the July Budget, was seemingly dropped in November, after around 20 Conservatives and the SNP MPs pledged to vote against it. It would have been an embarrassing Commons defeat for the government after it was elected with a small working majority last May.

However, the reform was controversially resurrected by Business Secretary Sajid Javid last month as an amendment to the enterprise bill, which was already most of the way through its parliamentary journey. Despite anger at the method to re-table the motion, The Guardian says it was expected to pass as revisions to protect workers' rights had placated SNP members, who were thought likely to abstain.

Now a surprise about-face from the party has thrown the government plans into turmoil once more. Following a weekly meeting with his MPs, Stewart Hosie, the SNP's deputy leader, confirmed his 54 voting MPs would not back the bill and would instead support an amendment put forward by Tory rebel David Burrowes, which also has the support of 24 Conservative backbenchers.

Parliamentary voting maths can get complicated, but with the government's working majority of 17 active voting members and, according to the BBC, the Lib Dem's eight MPs likely to be split down the middle on the issue, the vote is going to be extremely tight.

As a matter of custom, the SNP tends to stand aside on votes such as this that only affect England and Wales. However, when it proposed to oppose the plans last year, the party stated it was worried about the knock-on effects for employees north of the border.

Despite having secured added protections in the form of rights for staff to opt out of Sunday working at short notice, the party is still worried about the removal of premium pay by UK-wide employers. Ministers may need to include protections on such issues into the law to convince them not to join what Burrowes himself has called an "unholy alliance" against the government.

Another option to assure the bill's passage would be for the government to accept some changes as proposed by opponents on their own side. This would probably mean restricting the change to seaside towns and others with a sizeable tourism industry.

The government has hit out at the SNP for its "hypocritical" stance, given that Scotland already has devolved powers over trading hours and that there are no formal Sunday opening restrictions in the country. "So unless there is a set of changes from government, it seems Scottish MPs have prevented English shoppers from doing what Scottish shoppers can already do," notes ITV News.

Sunday trading law overhaul could still happen

04 February

Larger shops may be able to open for longer on Sundays after a controversial overhaul to trading laws has been revived months after the government was forced to drop the plan.

At the Budget last July, George Osborne proposed giving local councils the power to waive restrictions on Sunday opening hours. The government went on to launch a consultation giving the option of bespoke local deals or blanket devolution and outlining certain safeguards for workers.

But after 20 Conservative backbenchers threatened to rebel and vote with Labour and SNP MPs, the government appeared to abandon the proposals in November. Now Business Secretary Sajid Javid has put the reform back on the agenda and told parliament he will be tabling an amendment to the Enterprise Bill.

The move has sparked anger from union leaders and opposition Labour figures, who said the inclusion of such a contested measure in a bill already in the latter stages of its progress through parliament breaches a promise for a full consultative process.

"When the government temporarily suspended Sunday trading laws for the 2012 Olympics, ministers gave categorical assurances that any attempt to permanently change the law would be subject to a full public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny," John Hannett, the general secretary of Usdaw, the shopworkers' union, told The Guardian.

"Tabling an amendment at this stage breaks that promise and the consultation is not complete until it has been published in full."

Angela Eagle, the shadow business secretary, said Labour was against making changes to the current legislation. "It works well and means that retailers can trade, customers can shop and shopworkers can spend time with their families," she said.

At present, only stores that are less than 3,000 square metres can open as they see fit on Sundays, with larger premises restricted to opening for six hours between 10am and 6pm. Critics says changing this will hurt small businesses and high streets as more trade will go to out-of-town shopping centres.

In response, the government has pointed to provisions in the consultation such as the granting of waivers only in particular "zones". It also says workers who are not already contracted to work on Sundays will be able to opt out at a month's notice.

According to the BBC, the Business Secretary said the government's intensions "have been clear" and defended including the new rules in the Enterprise Bill, which is primarily aimed at cutting red tape and introducing support for smaller businesses that have disputes with larger organisations.

He added that it was right to make the issue of Sunday trading a local issue. "If the people of Bromsgrove or Barking say they want to see longer Sunday opening hours, who are we here in Westminster to stand in their way?"