Christian leaders have warned the government that if large shops remian open for longer on Sundays, it will damage family life of shop keepers, affect local stores and will do nothing to boost the economy.
For the first time, senior Roman Catholic, Church of England, Church in Wales, Methodist, United Reform Church and Salvation Army figures have issued a joint statement to The Daily Telegraph, opposing the government’s plan to relax Sunday trading laws.
They explained that such laws would not only lead to shop workers and customers spending less time with their families, it will affect small local stores, resulting into loss of business. It is also a known fact that many of such local shops are owned by Asians, especially Gujaratis, Sri Lankans, Tamils, Punjabis, Malayalees, Andhrites, Nepalese, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, to name a few.
A study from Oxford University has backed this claimed stating that this law change will damage the businesses of small shops, who will lose customers to larger chain stores.
According to the current rules, small shops can open whenever they want, but on Sundays, larger stores are restricted to a maximum of six hours in the period between 10am and 6pm. The warning comes after Ministers announced they would give local councils in England and Wales the power to allow large retailers in their area to open for longer, in measures contained in the Enterprise Bill, which is passing through Parliament.
Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary, said relaxing the restrictions would enable local authorities to “help struggling High Streets”.
He has faced opposition from traditionalist Tory MPs and faith leaders have spoken out individually. Fears have also been raised that shop workers will come under pressure to work for longer on Sundays. But two weeks ago, ministers announced a package of concessions designed to allay these fears, promising new protections to ensure shop staff can say “no thanks” to their bosses.
The measures included a new legal right for workers to refuse requests to work for longer on Sundays.
The faith leaders have added that they welcome the initiative but “remain unconvinced” that these protections will be “effective in practice”.
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What do Temples, Gurdwaras, Mosques and Derasars have to say on the change of Sunday trading hours? Are other faith leaders backing their local shopkeepers? Or rooting for big stores and longer hours on Sundays? Let us have your thought at [email protected] in 100 words.
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