Lib Dems offer surprise support to Cameron over Sunday trading

David Cameron’s controversial plans to relax Sunday trading laws have received unexpected support from the Liberal Democrats.

Tim Farron, the party leader and a Christian, and seven other Lib Dem MPs, were expected to agree at a meeting last night to back the Prime Minister’s plans to allow councils to let shops open for longer on Sundays.

The backing would mean that the vote on whether to relax the rules – initially due next week but postponed by Mr Cameron in the face of opposition from 20 of his own MPs – could be very close.

Baroness Burt of Solihull, the party’s business spokesman, said: “The Liberal Democrats believe in supporting businesses and think the power to decide Sunday trading rules should rest with local councils, not Whitehall.”

The plans are being fought by an “unholy alliance” of MPs from the Tory party, the SNP, DUP and Labour.

David Burrowes, the leader of the Tory rebels, said that he could still block the plans without the backing of the Lib Dems. “As ever, we don’t need a coalition with the Lib Dems,” he said.

Mr Burrowes said the list of 20 Conservative MPs who will fight the plans – published in The Daily

Telegraph on Wednesday – was a “minimum” of those who will vote against it, and that there is “a significant number of others who will go into the lobby with me”.

Currently, large shops are prevented from opening for more than six hours on a Sunday. Only shops with less than 3,000 sq ft – essentially convenience stores – can open for longer.

Last month, Mr Cameron told MPs: “I think it’s time to modernise our approach to give families more choice.”