ACS has branded a report published today by Grant Shapps MP as partial, unconvincing and based on old data that has already been discredited during the government's consultation on this issue. The report (http://www.shapps.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Sunday-Trading-for-the…) argues for extending Sunday trading hours.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: "There is nothing new in this re-heated report, it uses government data from their review of Sunday trading in 2006, and analysis of Sunday trading policy in other countries from as far back as Sweden's liberalisation of Sunday trading in 1972. This evidence has already been used in the government's consultation and has been thoroughly discredited.
"Grant Shapps argument is based on the idea that more Sunday trading hours would lead to more trade. This is simply wrong, as we saw in 2012 when opening hours were deregulated for the Olympics but sales went down. Not surprisingly, Grant Shapps chooses to ignore this more recent and relevant evidence. Without more sales, longer Sunday trading hours would not create any more jobs or growth, in fact a Oxford Economics from last year shows how this policy would actually lead to net job losses.
"The report also re-hashes arguments about longer Sunday trading hours helping shops to fight back against internet shopping. Yet Grant Shapps ignores Populus polling from last month which asked over 2,000 customers what factors influences their decisions to shop on line, with not a single respondent citing Sunday trading restrictions as a reason for this."
ACS is part of the campaign group Keep Sunday Special, which has produced a comprehensive myth buster on the evidence being used to justify changes to Sunday trading rules. The myth buster is available here: http://www.keepsundayspecial.org.uk/evidence/mythbuster
