The head of Sainsbury’s has stepped into the row over Sunday trading with a warning to ministers not to extend opening hours all year round. Justin King, the group’s chief executive, said the restrictions on opening hours — suspended during the Olympics and Paralympics — were ‘a great British compromise’ and should not be abandoned. In a second attack, the Church of England teamed up with a union and a shopkeepers’ group to call for curbs on opening hours to remain in place. The interventions come as some Conservative ministers seek to scrap the law that restricts big stores to six hours’ trading on Sundays, in a measure aimed at boosting economic growth. Mr King says the regime has ‘great merit’ for both shoppers and workers. ‘Maintaining Sunday’s special status has great merit for our customers and our colleagues, and relaxing Sunday trading laws is certainly not a magic answer to economic regeneration.’
Pray: for any move to further extend the Sunday trading hours will be firmly rejected by government. (Ex.20:8)