The House of Commons has rejected Government plans to relax the law on Sunday trading.
A motion to remove the measure was carried by 317 votes to 286. Read the actual debate here and follow it through to see how your MP voted. A vote for ‘Aye’ is for Sunday. A vote ‘No’ is for the Government.
Every opposition party in the House voted against proposals to allow local councils in England and Wales to decide whether to extend opening hours.
The shop workers’ union USDAW also opposed the change, which it said would not give shop workers adequate protection if they had an objection to working on Sunday.
Speaking on television, Dave Williams of USDAW said there was a working compromise at the moment which would ‘keep Sunday special’, although the day is not really that special since the current system was introduced in 1993.
The church sadly moved away from the principled position which defeated Mrs Thatcher’s earlier attempt to relax the law in the 1986 Shops Bill, her only defeat in the House. Christian Voice opposed any compromise, saying the Lord would not honour it. So it turned out.
Seven years later, the proposal from ‘Keep Sunday Special’ was defeated and the ‘Shopping Hours Reform Council’ saw its proposal to allow large shops to open for six hours on Sunday passed in a vote on 8th December 1993.
Ministers had sought to limit the current rebellion by promising to trial the changes in 12 areas but their late offer of concessions was described by Sir Gerald Howarth as “shambolic” and “delivered by lastminute.com”.
The Government said afterwards they would respect MPs’ views. It is the Conservative government’s second defeat in the House of Commons since it was elected last May. The earlier defeat was on 7th July 2015 on “English Votes on English Laws”.
Conservative MP David Burrowes, who tabled the successful rebel amendment, said the government had not made an economic case for such sweeping changes, which he said were opposed by businesses of all sizes, shop workers and faith groups.
Speaking after the vote, he told BBC News of his “relief”, adding: “The main thing out there is relief for shop workers, families and businesses who will really be pleased today.”
Labour said the government’s approach had been “tawdry” and the House of Commons had spoken clearly on the “contentious issue”.
The SNP also objected to the government plans, even though in Scotland shops have opened for longer on Sundays for many years. They said the measure would impact on wages north of the border.
Twenty-seven Conservative MPs rebelled against the government, objecting that the measure was not in the Party’s 2015 election manifesto:
Heidi Allen
Caroline Ansell
Bob Blackman
Peter Bone (teller)
Fiona Bruce
David Burrowes
Maria Caulfield
Christopher Chope
Nadine Dorries
Steve Double
James Gray
Chris Green
Gordon Henderson
Philip Hollobone (teller)
Gerald Howarth
Stewart Jackson
Ranil Jayawardena
David Jones
Jeremy Lefroy
Edward Leigh
Julian Lewis
Karl McCartney
Andrew Rosindell
Derek Thomas
Andrew Turner
Martin Vickers
William Wragg
Later the same night, the Government were twice defeated in the House of Lords.
Peers debating the Immigration Bill voted to allow asylum seekers the right to work if their claims have not been processed within six months.
They also voted to allow overseas domestic workers to change employers without risking immediate deportation.
Peers voted by 280 votes to 195 in favour of a Labour, Lib Dem and crossbench amendment to the Immigration Bill on the rights of asylum seekers to work.
Lord Alton of Liverpool, who proposed it, said it would end the “enforced workhouse destitution” currently experienced by asylum seekers.
Isaiah 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (KJV)
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This battle to keep Sunday special was lost long ago, and for most people a few hours extra would not have made any noticeable difference anyway.
So apparently we are not now being fed with the heritage of Jacob our father.