The Government's plans to change Sunday trading laws in England and Wales, which would allow larger shops to trade for more than six hours, have been scrapped after being rejected by MPs.
The plans were rejected by 317 votes to 286, with 27 Tory MPs siding with Labour and the SNP.
If they had been successful, ministers stated that these new plans may have benefitted the UK economy by around £1.5b over 10 years.
However, MPs in disagreement with the plans stated that changing Sunday trading laws would take away the day's special status and place extra pressure on workers.
According to the Guardian, John Hannett, the general secretary of the shopworkers’ union Usdaw, was pleased with the defeat:
“This is the third occasion in five years that Conservative ministers have attempted to permanently change Sunday trading regulations and the third time they have been unsuccessful. We hope now 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.
“The current Sunday trading rules are a fair compromise, which has worked well for over 20 years.”
