A crucial few weeks lie ahead for the Keep Sunday Special Campaign and a plethora of other organisations and individuals who are determined to fight off the threat of more shopping hours on a Sunday.
The campaign has called on a group of eminent politicians to examine the effect that weekend working is having on community and family life. The Parliamentary panel will meet over a period of weeks and take evidence from a variety of witnesses from children and family organisations, trade unions, retailers, religious groups and consumer groups and report by April 14.
Pressure from superstores
The new threat to what remains of the family weekend comes from an alliance of major retailers calling themselves ‘Deregulate’. Members, including Tesco, Ikea, B&Q and Asda, want the Government to lift all restrictions on large-shop trading on a Sunday. They are seeking to convince the Department of Trade and Industry that the demand comes from consumers hungry to spend even more than they already do on Sunday shopping sprees.
