London Chamber urges Burnham to lift Sunday trading limits this October

In the run-up to his inaugural budget, Prime Minister Andy Burnham received a petition from the London Chamber of Commerce to abolish England’s six-hour Sunday trading limit for large retailers. The chamber says the restriction, a legacy of 1980s policy, hurts London’s footfall on one of the week’s most valuable shopping days and puts the city at a disadvantage to Paris, Milan and Dubai, where stores stay open all day.

The submission also recommends re-introducing VAT-free shopping for visitors, a scheme ended in 2020, and urges the government to negotiate a fresh EU agreement, back the third runway at Heathrow, and create an AI investment zone along the Elizabeth and Jubilee lines. Burnham and Chancellor John Healey are set to deliver their first budget speech on October 14.