Feature: Shop till you drop on the way for Sunday shoppers in Britain

British Chancellor George Osborne put himself on a collision course with churches and trade union leaders Tuesday over a proposal to scrap laws restricting Sunday shop opening laws.

Restrictions on Sunday trading have been controlled by various English laws dating back to the 1400s.

Osborne wants elected mayors and local councils in England's towns and cities to set their own rules for Sunday opening.

Currently larger stores are allowed to trade for six hours on Sundays, but new laws could open the doors for shops to operate on a 24/7 basis.

It would mean the clanging of church bells competing with the dinging of shop tills on Sundays.

The British Treasury highlights research claiming even opening for an extra two hours on Sundays would create an extra 3,000 jobs in the capital and generate more than 300 million U.S. dollars in additional sales in London alone.

Small convenience stores fear a change in the law would doom many traditional 'corner shops' to closure.

Church authorities, family pressure groups and trade unions representing thousands of shop workers are strongly opposed to a relaxation of Sunday's trading hours.

Osborne will be outlining his proposals in Wednesday's Budget speech to the British House of Commons, with a change in the laws expected to be presented later this year.

During the 2012 London Olympics the rules across Britain were relaxed to set aside the Sunday trading laws for the duration of the games. An assurance was given it would not lead to a permanent change.

Chancellor Osborne said Tuesday decisions on relaxations of the law should be taken at a local level - if local officials think longer opening hours would boost their economies, adding there was a "growing appetite" for shopping on a Sunday.

Osborne said: "There is some evidence that transactions for Sunday shopping are actually growing faster than those for Saturday. The rise of online shopping, which people can do round the clock, also means more retailers want to be able to compete by opening for longer at the weekend.

"But this won't be right for every area, so I want to devolve the power to make this decision to mayors and local authorities."

In the Biblical Ten Commandments the call was made to keep the Sabbath special, a guiding principle in many Christian countries since.

The last big shake-up in Sunday trading came in 1994 when bigger shops in Britain were allowed to open on Sundays for up to six hours. Previously the confusing trading laws threw up a number of quirky consequences. It had been illegal for book shops to open on Sundays, which meant on the traditional 'Holy Day' it was illegal to sell a Bible, but it was legal to sell pornographic magazines on Sundays.

The pressure group Keep Sundays Special was set up some years ago and since has campaigned to stop any further incursions into Sundays, pledging to resist any further attempts to extend Sunday trading. Endit