UNION bosses are urging councils not enforcing Sunday trading laws, allowing stores to open for longer, to guarantee it is only a temporary measure during the outbreak.

Shopworkers’ trade union Usdaw is also urging retailers to open for limited additional hours, only where it is necessary, and to ensure that pressure to work additional hours is not put on already overworked staff.

Paddy Lillis, Usdaw general secretary, said: “We have long believed that the current compromise around Sunday trading is the right one, one that allows customers to shop, stores to trade, and provides our members and other retail workers with guaranteed time away from work in what is an increasingly 24/7 society.

“We are facing a national crisis, with our members on the frontline of continuing to serve their communities and keep the food supply chain moving. We appreciate the sentiment behind the call and want to see all of our key workers supported at this difficult time. However, we do not believe that longer trading hours on a Sunday are part of the answer.

“Many retailers are struggling to maintain staffing levels, keep shelves stocked and closing their stores earlier throughout the week to replenish stock, install additional safety measures, deep clean stores, and take some of the pressure off their staff.

“Shops are now coping much better than last week, shoppers are adjusting and stores are putting in effective measures.

"While in some places there are large queues around opening time, shops are relatively quiet later in the day and there is still plenty of stock on the shelves.

"Opening for longer on a Sunday would simply make the busy times earlier and the quieter times longer, it makes no sense. With more people currently working from home and shopping only permitted for essential supplies, there is no reason why weekends should be any busier than normal.

“We are aware that some local authorities have stated that they will not prosecute illegal Sunday trading. Given the extent of the crisis the country is facing, we are not going to pursue this, although I’m not sure how much this will benefit key workers or reduce the pressure on the shops.

“We are working with our members and retailers every day to keep the food supply chain moving and to keep retail workers safe and we support measures that would genuinely help other key workers.

"We would be more than prepared to discuss meaningful and effective measures to ensure that key workers can access essential supplies, but a blanket deregulation of Sunday trading is unlikely to help those who need it and would simply increase pressure on those working to resolve them.”