Covid Scotland: Businesses warn against ban on January 1 trading

Thirteen leading business representative groups and industry bodies are jointly urging the Scottish Government to reject a legislative ban on shops trading on New Year’s Day.

The call comes on the last day of the government’s consultation on prohibiting stores from trading on January 1, with a potential ban on opening described as “putting rock’s in the retail industry’s rucksack” after a year of uncertainty and losses through the pandemic.

The consultation, launched ten weeks ago, aims to determine whether the current trading law should change to restrict large retailers from opening for business on New Year’s Day as is the case on Christmas Day.

It was prompted after the Scottish Parliament’s Petitions Committee unanimously backed a petition to end New Year’s Day trading in large stores.

Businesses are urging the government not to ban trading on New Year's Day.

Shopworkers’ union Usdaw had launched the petition calling on the Scottish Government to hold a consultation on implementing legislation already in place.

The Christmas Day and New Year’s Day Trading Act (Scotland) Act 2007 prohibits trading in most large shops on Christmas Day and gave powers to the Scottish Government to stop the same stores opening on New Year’s Day too – but it has never been enacted.

However 13 business organisations have now written to Tom Arthur, the minister for public finance, planning and community wealth, raising their concerns about a ban.

Signed by representatives from CBI Scotland, Scottish Chambers of Commerce, The Scottish Tourism Alliance, and the Scottish Wholesale Association among others, the letter states: ”Retail has been at the epicentre of the economic storm wrought by Covid. Much of the sector has been shuttered for at least 220 days over the past seventeen months or unable to trade at capacity due to restrictions.

"As restrictions ease it should be down to stores to determine and assess whether there is sufficient customer demand and availability of staff to open on New Year’s Day.

“Curtailing this through legislation would diminish consumer choice and add to the economic pressures facing retailers, their supply chain, and our town and city centre economies. A strong, varied and open retail offering in turn benefits the wider tourism and hospitality sector as well as the recovery.

“The Covid pandemic has been the most challenging period for Scottish industry in decades. As the country seeks to rebuild, rejecting a ban would send a strong and positive message that Scotland is open for business and help to promote Scotland as a visitor destination at New Year.”

David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said the letter was "an unequivocal message” to the government “voicing serious doubts about the wisdom of banning shops from opening to customers on New Year’s Day.”

He added: “A legislative ban would be putting rocks in the retail industry’s rucksack just as it seeks to recover and climb out from the worst trading period in decades. The government’s focus should be on kick-starting recovery, not closing shop doors.”

Launching the consultation Tom Arthur said the government had been "engaging with business groups, trades unions and others to understand what impact this would have on business and staff.”

He said the government was “committed to building on the £3.6 billion in support we have delivered to businesses since March 2020 and ensure we seize Scotland’s economic potential, creating secure, sustainable and satisfying jobs.”

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