News

There’s plenty of discussion in the media about business rates policy, with most retail and wider business groups agreeing there needs to be a change to the way rates are calculated and collected (see businesses organisations agreed position here). But what specifics should we expect, or hope for, when the Chancellor stands up on Wednesday?

Local shops across the UK have welcomed parliament’s decision to reject changes to Sunday trading laws in vote on the Enterprise Bill this afternoon.

The proposals, which would have seen local councils given the power to remove Sunday trading hours in their local area, were rejected by 317 votes to 286 as MPs supported David Burrowes campaign to retain the existing laws.

Hours before MPs are set to vote on the future of Sunday trading regulations in England and Wales, the Government have published its impact assessment on the proposals.

ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “This so-called impact assessment does nothing more than reiterate the Government’s shoddy decade old evidence for change, whilst continuing to ignore the concerns of shop workers, retailers and consumers. For the Government to release this assessment mere minutes before the debate on Sunday trading is a disgrace.”

Campaign group Keep Sunday Special have reissued their calls to MPs to vote against proposals to devolve Sunday trading hours to local authorities, highlighting the failure of Government officials to go through a legitimate and robust consultation process in making their decision.

Keep Sunday Special have urged MPs not to be taken in by reports that government plans to devolve Sunday trading decisions to local authorities will only be applied to high streets.

While Mr Lewis has suggested in an article in the Telegraph that there had been a ‘last minute change’ to the plans which will benefit town centres over out of town locations, there are in fact no clauses in the Enterprise Bill that ensure or even promote the use of these new powers for high street or town centre locations.

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.

Comments made by Chancellor George Osborne about the link between online shopping and Sunday trading have been shown to be wrong and misguided by new polling.

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. The Chancellor is the latest of a number of government ministers to make the false link between Sunday trading laws and the growth of internet shopping.

Hundreds of concerned retailers, shopworkers and consumers gathered on Monday afternoon in a mass lobby of Parliament to oppose plans to remove Sunday trading laws.

The mass lobby, organised by campaign group Keep Sunday Special, called on MPs from pivotal constituencies in the Sunday trading debate to hear from retailers, shopworkers, faith groups and industry experts on the damage that changes to Sunday trading rules will do to the UK economy and society.

HMRC have published a consultation on the costs and benefits of introducing tobacco licensing for all parts of the supply chain including retailers. The Chancellor announced this consultation would take place at his Autumn Financial Statement. The UK Government is a signatory of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and is therefore obliged to explore the extent to which tobacco licensing is appropriate in the tobacco supply chain.

A group of organisations have issued Government with notice to legally challenge their decision to press ahead with proposals to change Sunday trading regulations.

The Government has been issued with a letter before action from the Keep Sunday Special group, setting out plans for a future Judicial Review on the proposals to devolve Sunday trading regulations to local authorities. The letter argues that the Government has not carried out a genuine, unbiased consultation process.

The key elements raised in the letter include: