Church wants action now on Sunday trade

John Ryan
by Muray White THE Government should follow its pledge to offer MPs an immediate "conscience-vote" on the controversial liberalisation of Sunday shopping by clamping down on stores cashing in before Christmas, Church leaders said this week.
Bishops and priests have welcomed proposals to "sensibly" reform the Sunday trading laws. But they urged prompt action against traders flouting the law on seven-day opening for the second Christmas in succession.
Home Secretary Kenneth Clarke announced last week that a Government bill, expected in the New Year, will present three options for the future of Sunday shopping a total deregulation, a partial deregulation which allows superstores to open for part of the day, or a limited scheme to allow only small shops to open.
Representatives from all the major Christian Churches, at a
Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland (CCBI) meeting last week, argued that the "rule of law" must be a priority for the Government in the short term.
"Neither democracy nor justice is well served by allowing Law-abiding retailers to be disadvantaged commercially by those who show flagrant contempt for existing statutes," said the meeting, attended by Catholic Bishops Leo McCartie of Northampton and Vincent Nichols of north London.
Bishop McCartie, who favours limited opening for small shops, told the Catholic Herald: "Sunday must remain a special day to give rhythm to the week, to give time for families to be together and to create time for worship."
The Revd John Reardon, general secretary of the CCM., agreed that the Churches "are likely to opt for only allowing small shops to open".
Church leaders also feared that
any new legislation would give only limited protection to staff who had no wish to work on Sundays. Malcolm Pitt, Secretary of the Bishops' Committee for the World of Work, said: "We would be very concerned about the pressure that is likely to be put on shop workers.
Both advocates and opponents of Sunday trading have admitted that the law needs reform, but a previous Government bill which proposed total dereguation was defeated in 1986 after enormous pressure from Churches and trades unions.
Mr Clarke said: "There is no body of opinion that finds the existing law wholly satisfactory. Everyone from Sabbatarians to deregulators are critical of some aspects." Current laws limit Sunday trading to particular kinds of goods, allowing, for example, the sale of gin or fresh vegetables but not dried milk or tinned greens.