Sunday Trading Laws

Soldato
Joined
5 Mar 2006
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Location
Nottingham
There's a vote about to be held to relax restrictions to Sunday Trading hours. Personally I'd be in favour of it but I appreciate that some in the retail trade may not be.

The only snag is that the SNP will be voting against it, even though it doesn't affect Scotland (which currently has no Sunday Trading restrictions itself...) and the Government may well be defeated on the planned changes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35759590

What are your thoughts?
 
It's staggering that the SNP have the gall to vote against lifting restrictions in England which merely brings England into line with what Scotland already has.
 
[TW]Fox;29263252 said:
It's staggering that the SNP have the gall to vote against lifting restrictions in England which merely brings England into line with what Scotland already has.

Genuine question: didn't the gov do something around the English votes for English laws thing that people were talking about or is that still on the todo list?
 
SNP doing what they're elected to do - annoy the English. Have to say that I'd normally be in favour of restricting Sunday trading laws, but achieving that through this mechanism is not democratic. If Labour want to regain the trust of the English electorate they'd about-face and support the government on this.
 
The Sunday trading laws are pretty antiquated and contrived to serve a religious standpoint that is no longer dominant in our society, although in some ways I do still quite like them as in the current world a little bit of quiet downtime is needed by all!

The SNP's standpoint is ridiculous and the most perfect example of the West Lothian paradox you can imagine all the main parties should unite to pass the bill in the face of such stupid opposition and then we should simply remove the voting powers of Scottish MP's on things that do not effect their constituents imagine the rumblings north of the boarder were the situation reversed!
 
Its completely irrelevant to the modern world, yes many folk may wish to go and worship on a sunday but thats no reason for those of us who dont adhere to religious requirements by the letter to get on with our lives.

If garages etc can stay open on a sunday i see no valid reason other services cant either.
 
[TW]Fox;29263252 said:
It's staggering that the SNP have the gall to vote against lifting restrictions in England which merely brings England into line with what Scotland already has.

As a Scot that's pretty much my thoughts too.

Although I think it does show the issues that we have with the current system. To be fair I think there should be an English parliament then have Westminster to look after the UK issues.
 
When it boils down to it, people have 6 full days + 6 hours to buy what they want or need and opening an extra 3 or 4 hours on a sunday isn't going to change the grand total given its governed mostly by disposable income.

Well not exactly. If you work 9-5:30, you basically have 1 full day and 6 hours to do everything you need, which isn't a lot.
 
The SNP's attitude towards this annoys me. I would love to be able to shop longer on a Sunday, but because it may lower the pay slightly of workers in Scotland, that chance will probably be rejected.

The SNP shouldn't get a vote on these matters when their attitude is basically screw the English.

Shouldn't have even had a referendum just cut the selfish whingers loose and let em get on with it.
 
I have worked in retail for 20 years and its gone from a day of rest to double pay Sunday's to normal pay Sundays. Now they want extra hours on a Sunday!! Its an absolute disgrace just so people can shop more!
 
[TW]Fox;29263370 said:
So Scotland can have longer hours but the rest of the UK cannot?

Given that they have devolved trading powers and were not included in the 1994 Sunday Trading Act then yes, they can pick and choose. You can blame the UK government for that...
 
Religion hasn't been of relevance to it in a long time even if it was the basis of the sunday trading laws.

Retail workers will have their obligations extended to all day sunday, in other words required to cover a full 7 days a week, not individually but the staff as a whole. Nevertheless it increases the unsocial hours someone has to do as retail workers also like to have weekend time when most other people have time off.

At the same time non-retail workers who work 9-5 mon-fri will not see that as an inconvenience to themselves, it's someone elses problem. They will enjoy improved shopping time in their days off.
 
Why should retail staff have contracts which cover a 7 day week, which includes working weekends, in some places finishing at 10pm sometimes later during xmas?? While office workers do a mon-fri 9-6, have 2 days of together (most retail staff dont even get that) and sit down to do their jobs! Theres even talk of having some retail shopping centres open 24hours.. its becoming a joke
 
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