ACS has called on MPs to reject an amendment tabled in the Enterprise Bill on Sunday Trading that will damage the economy and devastate small shops.

ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “The Government’s message on Sunday trading has become so confused that it is barely recognisable. They claim that Sunday trading rules need to change to meet the needs of modern consumers, and yet quote decades old figures. They claim that Sunday trading changes will help high streets compete with online retail, but not one consumer or company polled this year has claimed that Sunday trading hours are a factor in the popularity of online shopping. They claim that this is what people want, despite several surveys showing that the majority of the public like the rules just the way they are. These ill thought out, badly executed and potentially devastating plans must be dropped.”

Polling of over 2,000 consumers in January 2016 showed that two thirds of consumers had shopped online in January but not a single person identified Sunday trading hours as a reason why they shopped online instead of on the high street.

Mr Lowman continued: “There is no link in consumer’s minds between shopping online and trading restrictions early on a Sunday morning and late in the evening. The Government are failing to make a credible economic case for Sunday trading because experience from the 2012 Olympics, when shops were allowed to open all day on Sunday, showed no overall increase in sales just a displacement of trade from small to large shops. There are a growing number of government backbenchers looking to vote against the government on this proposal.”

More information about the evidence for retaining the Sunday trading regulations is available here