Whatever their motives, MPs chose to 'Keep Sunday Special' this week. Clifford Hill comments.

Sunday trading has always been a toxic issue in parliament. It was the only issue on which Margaret Thatcher lost a vote in the House of Commons. That was in 1986 when the Shops Bill was defeated in a revolt by 72 Tory MPs who felt strongly that this was an issue of conscience.

From 1986 to 2016

The 1986 vote in parliament was strongly influenced by a successful campaign 'Keep Sunday Special' initiated by Dr Michael Schluter, which was strongly backed by churches of all denominations and had considerable prayer support from Christian organisations.

The successful rebellion against the government this week was led by David Burrowes MP, well-known for his Christian commitment, who said that he had listened to the concerns of his constituents. "I have many shop-workers, many faith groups and many others saying: why are we doing this? Why are we trying to unpick something that's fairly settled?"¹ He also said that for him this was "an issue of conscience" which he could not ignore.²

David Burrowes proposed an amendment which was supported by 317 to 286. The amendment was supported by MPs from across the parties, including Labour, the SNP, the DUP, Lib Dems and 27 Tory backbenchers who voted against the government.

Shameless Economic Agenda

The proposed changes to the Sunday trading laws would have benefited the larger stores who currently are only allowed to open for six hours on a Sunday. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said that it was "a major win" for small businesses in England and Wales as its members were "unconvinced of the economic case for relaxing Sunday trading rules".³

The defeat was greeted with delight by John Hannett, General Secretary of the Shopworkers Union USDAW. He said, "This is the third time in five years that Conservative ministers have attempted to permanently change Sunday trading regulations and the third time they have been unsuccessful."⁴ He added, "We hope now that the Government will leave this great British compromise alone and focus on providing real support for the retail sector, not the unwanted and unnecessary bureaucracy that devolution would have resulted in."⁵

The argument in favour of scrapping restrictions on Sunday trading was shamelessly economic – largely designed to favour big business operators – and showing little concern for the views of shop-workers and the broader negative impacts Sunday trading has upon family life. It is this latter point that is of particular concern for Christians who have watched with dismay over the past 40 years the disappearance of regulations protecting the spiritual health of the nation.

In the past 40 years, Christians have watched the disappearance of regulations protecting the spiritual health of the nation. Increased Sunday trading would have struck a further blow.

Keep Sunday Special

Anything that weakens family life is a blow to the physical, mental and spiritual health of the nation. The pressures of commercialisation have left little opportunity for families to spend time together to relax and simply to communicate with one another. Surely most people should be able to organise their shopping habits to satisfy their needs in six days without encroaching on Sundays at all. Our present regulations are by no means ideal but complete deregulation would finally destroy even the protection that our present Sundays give for at least part of the day to be different from the rest of the week.

This was surely the intention of God in the creation of the world: to have one day free from the pressures of work when there could be a reflection upon things other than merely making a living. This is why honouring the Sabbath is included in the 10 Commandments: because it is important for the health and well-being of all humans.

God instituted the Sabbath for the health and well-being of all humans – to keep one day in the week free from the pressures of work, giving space for reflection on other things.

Corruption and Injustice

In the history of Israel, when the nation ignored the regulations protecting the Sabbath it always resulted in a wide range of social problems that included the exploitation of the poor and vulnerable by the rich and powerful. Greed and corruption led to injustice that enslaved the powerless and destroyed family life.

This was one of the reasons why the prophets strove to protect the people from those who wanted to destroy the Sabbath. Amos told of market traders wanting to end the Sabbath so that they could get on with their trading – "skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat" (Amos 8:5-6).

Nehemiah believed that failing to observe the Sabbath led to God removing his cover of protection over the nation. He saw people in Jerusalem buying and selling on the Sabbath and said, "What is this wicked thing you are doing – desecrating the Sabbath day? Didn't your forefathers do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity upon us and upon this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath" (Neh 13:17-18).

In Israel's history, when the nation ignored Sabbath regulations it always resulted in the poor and vulnerable being exploited and greed and corruption becoming rife.

The Government has criticised MPs for playing political games in voting against changing the Sunday trading rules. But they still did the right thing - even if their motives were not right!

References

1 Sunday trading changes defeated by Commons rebellion. PSE, 10 March 2016.

2 Government facing battle in Sunday trading vote. BBC News, 9 March 2016.

3 Sunday trading defeat for government as MPs reject changes. BBC News, 9 March 2016.

4 Mason, R.No 10 concedes Sunday trading defeat after Commons rebellion. The Guardian, 9 March 2016.

5. Ibid.