Nickie Aiken MP would like to see Sunday shopping hours temporarily extended in the build up to Christmas to support high streets across the Two Cities and beyond.
Earlier today, Nickie asked the following question in the House to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) Paul Scully MP.
Thankyou, Madam Deputy Speaker. As my right honourable friend is aware, the Arcadia Group is headquartered within my constituency, and brands, including Debenhams and Topshop, have their flagship stores on Oxford Street.
COVID has the potential to be the straw that breaks the camel's back for bricks-and-mortar retail.
The New West End Company and I welcome his and his department's continuing support for the retail sector.
I note the government's announcement this week to extend shopping trading hours, Monday to Saturday, until January, but particularly in the short term, an extension to Sunday trading hours would be of huge benefit to be retailers. Will he support me, The Sun on Sunday newspaper, and the retailers like Marks & Spencer campaigning to extend Sunday trading?
Paul Scully MP replied
I thank my honourable friend, and I look forward to joining New West End Company, and I assume her, on Saturday, not only to celebrate Small Business Saturday, but also the traffic-free shopping in the West End, which, the West End, accounts for 3% of the entire UK economy, and many, many jobs.
In terms of Sunday trading, this is not something that we are proposing to do at this stage, but we are extending shopping hours throughout the weekdays.
And we want to work with local authorities to make sure that they can support the safe return to shoppers for our high streets up and down the country, including the West End.
You can also watch video of Nickie asking her question and Paul’s response above.
