There is one answer to Sunday trading question

TWO options are going to the States next month for what to do with Sunday trading restrictions.

There is, though, really only one answer: complete deregulation.

This column has spoken recently about boomerang issues – those that just keep coming back.

Well, here is a prime example.

This Assembly has already rejected the option of a trial period of deregulation, an idea promoted by Deputy Mike Hadley near the start of this term – the pressure that created did, though, help prompt the Commerce and Employment board to commit to reporting back on the issue.

It remains 'split' on the subject, although the majority are in favour of the freedom of choice that deregulation would provide.

Given that shops can already choose the hours they operate, this situation would mirror what happens on six out of seven days of the week.

It would be a move that reflects better the society that Guernsey has become since Sunday retailing was first regulated in 1911.

Back then, the petition that led to restrictions said that 'from time immemorial shopkeepers and the sellers of goods have acted in harmony with public opinion by abstaining from business on a Sunday. That there are, however, some, and their number is increasing, who neglect to observe this custom; That in the interests of the community and the morality and well-being of the rising generation of the island some steps should be taken to restrict the sale of goods on Sunday'.

The question of the morality of opening on a Sunday is much more moot today – for many of those against the move, it is perhaps more about lifestyle.

All would probably agree, from whichever side of the argument, that change is needed.

The Billet report gives a list of inconsistencies and problems with the current law.

Parishes interpret the restrictions in different ways, for starters.

This is particularly so when they have to decide what the phrase 'predominant range of goods' means – a trader with shops in different parishes gets conflicting advice.

The report also states that up to half the applications and inspectors' reports forwarded by the parishes to the department have errors or are incomplete. The errors are sometimes repeated even when they are explained. It is administratively not working.

Defining what a garden centre can sell on a Sunday has been a particularly vexed area, as has been deciphering the phrase 'items of a type likely to be of particular interest to tourists'.

Pet shops cannot open on a Sunday, but if you are a garden centre or a convenience store with a pet section, you can.

Shops have to apply every year for a licence, leading to about 200 inspections of premises every year.

Although retailers themselves seem to be lukewarm on the idea, public surveys have indicated time and again that the majority want restrictions lifted and this is a move that should have the public as the driver.

Concerns have been raised about shop staff, but Commerce and Employment refers to the fact that workers' rights are firmly protected by the unemployment law should they object to working on a Sunday.

Two board members favour ironing out the inconsistencies but still keeping the closed signs up on many businesses on a Sunday.

It is an uncomfortable compromise, deciding what people can and cannot buy, what goods are or are not acceptable, what size of shop is or is not.

If you came up with the proposal today you would be laughed out of the debate, so used are we to being able to buy just about anything we want with one click of a mouse button in front of a computer screen.

Deregulation would not force anyone to shop, nor would it force anyone to open, nor would it force anyone to give up their family time or not go to church.

But it would allow people to decide for themselves what to do.

Retailers who question the amount of business they will do, thinking trade would just be shifted to different days, underestimate the frustration when goods aren't available and the ease with which that translates to either not buying something or heading online instead.

There are potential positive knock-on effects in Town, too, for cafes and restaurants that might benefit from more people being around.

Some cling to the Sunday is special argument – it can remain so, it is just up to individuals how they treat it.

Shops are already open and the world keeps moving. Those who do not want to go shopping do not now and will not have to in the future.

When the States debates the issue, Commerce and Employment will go into it split – collective responsibility is clearly a notion that does not fit well with members.

The minister will have to present a report which lays out two options, but he supports deregulation.

Two other board members will be arguing for tidying up the current system.

Some people like this kind of compromise politics, like the committee system that allows this to happen.

C&E argues it is simply reflecting the split that there is in the community over this topic.

But debates are far more clinical when a department presents a single position, when members who have lost the argument in the boardroom respect that.

Someone would no doubt have presented an amendment from outside C&E, but a department itself attempting to present proposals to cater for everything anyone might want done is a confusing position and leaves the minister in a weaker position than they should be.