Keep Sunday Special is a British campaign group set up in 1985 by Dr. Michael Schluter CBE to oppose plans to introduce Sunday trading in England and Wales (there are different arrangements in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

). The Keep Sunday Special campaign was set up and is run as a conventional secular civil society organisation with support from trade unions, churches, political parties, private businesses, and members of all faiths and of none. It has no connection to the Lord's Day Observance Society.

History

From 1912 to 1938 a series of acts regarding trading were passed into UK law, including that which regulated shops on Sundays, which were later consolidated in the Shops Act 1950. This act was then repealed by the

Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 The Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 (c. 40) is an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament. It introduced wide-ranging measures with aims including reducing burdern on people in trade created by previous Acts such as the Shops Act 1950, ...

, bringing an end to the prohibition of Sunday trade in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is En ...

. Under the Sunday Trading Act 1994, large shops are allowed to open for up to six hours on a Sunday between 10am and 6pm. The UK Department of Trade and Industry conducted a review of the Act in early 2006 to consider whether to extend opening hours to nine hours or to remove restrictions entirely. Keep Sunday Special was founded on the idea that such moves by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

would have a damaging effect on families, communities and local economies. An

Early Day Motion In the Westminster parliamentary system, an early day motion (EDM) is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by members of Parliament that formally calls for debate "on an early day". In practice, they are rarely debated in the House ...

was signed by nearly 300 MPs. On 6 July 2006, the then Trade and Industry Secretary, Alistair Darling, confirmed that, having considered all the evidence from the review, the Government concluded there should be no change to the Sunday trading laws. The news was welcomed by trade unions and small shops who were afraid large stores would undercut their prices and were opposed to any change in the law.

References

External links

*
UK Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform - Report on Sunday Shopping
* {{cite web, url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24458571, title=The Anglo-French Sunday/Dimanche divide, author=Sam Judah & Olivia Sorrel-Dejerine, date=10 October 2013, accessdate=10 October 2013, publisher=BBC News Political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1985 1985 establishments in the United Kingdom Sunday shopping Retailing in the United Kingdom

History

See also

References

External links