YP Letters: Sunday shopping comes at a price to workers

IT may not be perfect – few things are – but the current law on Sunday trading represents a sensible compromise which allows large retailers up to six hours of trade while enabling their smaller counterparts to make a sane business judgement over whether to open and, if so, for how long (The Yorkshire Post, March 7).

Sunday shopping is certainly convenient, but it is not toll-free. It comes at a price – one which is paid by those who work in the retail trade on what has traditionally been the nation’s day of rest.

Instead of tricking ourselves with the delusion that unregulated Sunday trading will allow high street retailers to compete on equal terms with their online counterparts (it won’t), we would be better off as re-imagining our town centres as social spaces and places of encounter where people can relax, socialise and enjoy refreshments together.

From: Andrew Mercer, Guiseley.

LONG opening hours on a Sunday will be to the benefit of major supermarkets, and to the detriment of independent shops. Is this what George Osborne wants to achieve? How about sorting out the economy, not meddling like Gordon Brown?