Ministers face judicial review challenge over Sunday Trading devolution

A group of organisations have sent a pre-action protocol letter to the Government, warning of a potential judicial review challenge over its plans to devolve Sunday Trading regulations to local authorities.

The letter from the Keep Sunday Special group claims that the Government has “not carried out a genuine, unbiased consultation process”.

Earlier this month the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and the Department for Communities and Local Government said they would press ahead with the proposals.

They claimed the move was backed by a majority of councils, leading retailers and business leaders. However, they acknowledged that trade unions, religious bodies and a number of small businesses were against the plans. Overall, more than 7,000 responses to the consultation were received.

The Keep Sunday Special pre-action letter claimed that:

• Evidence that did not fit the Government’s agenda had been ignored;
• The Government had failed to publish the number of responses to the consultation that supported and opposed their proposals;
• The evidence that had been quoted was “irrelevant and outdated”. Most recently, the Government used evidence from 1970s Sweden to justify its decision, it claimed;
• The consultation amounted to an advocacy document for the proposals instead of being a balanced account of the views expressed by respondents to the consultation, “suggesting that the Government had made it decision on this policy before considering consultation responses”;
• The impact assessments had not been published, including the assessment of the Government’s proposals under the Prime Minister’s own family test.

A spokesperson for the Keep Sunday Special campaign said: “We do not enter into this action lightly, and do so with a heavy heart. There are fundamental flaws in the process that the Government has taken and full consideration is needed, not the inadequate process that has taken place to date.”

The move has been backed by the Association of Convenience Stores, the Relationships Foundation and the Federation of Wholesale Distributors.