The Sunday trading debate has been running since the 1960's - at least! The religious angle is - and has always been - a red herring. It's all to do with outdated trades union attitudes going back far longer. I don't even think that the big shop (that can afford the extra labour) / little shop (that may be put out of business) is even valid anymore. Lots of smaller businesses, often run by industrious immigrants, have disproved this. Remember "Open All Hours"? Such trading restrictions, including local authority enforcement of local "closing days", are long overdue to be scrapped. I doubt that they've been properly enforced for decades anyway. One thing we DO need to do is to put a permanent and total stop to out-of-town, often "green field", shopping developments. It's that that has killed the center of Bedlington and hundreds of towns besides. Megastores should operate by the same rules as smaller traders, and that includes zoning. If the market demands huge stores then it should be forced to pay the same cost per square meter as smaller traders have to pay, and/or buy those smaller traders out at a fair price.