Opposition to longer Sunday trading hours

A supermarket boss has attacked government plans to make temporarily extended Sunday trading hours permanent.

Sainsbury's chief executive, Justin King, said: "Maintaining Sunday's special status has great merit".

It is not a 'magic answer' to the UK's economic problems, he added in a letter to the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

Supermarkets and large stores have been allowed to open for longer during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Under current legislation, shops in England and Wales measuring more than 280 square metres (3,000 square feet) can open for a maximum of six hours between the 10am and 6pm on Sunday.

However, the government relaxed these rules during a seven-week period covering the Games in order to serve the expected rise in tourists and shoppers.

Supermarkets have been able to choose their own opening hours across England and Wales.

In a separate, joint letter, also to the Sunday Telegraph, the general secretary of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW), the Bishop of Oxford and the chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores said they had been "alarmed" to hear that ministers were considering making the change permanent.

The Keep Sunday Special campaign said over one million families have at least one parent working on both weekend days, meaning they have little time to spend with their children.