Why do the SNP oppose new Sunday trading in England and Wales?

They believe it will bring down workers wages

...and why would that be Anniebach?

Does it not "bring down workers wages" over the border then?

Exactly gilly but the SNP like to oppose almost anything at all.

The SNP are hypocrites - they are trying to prevent people in England and Wales from having the same freedom of choice as people living in Scotland already have.

If I were a cynic I might think they are deliberately trying to stir up anti-Scottish feelings in the rest of the UK so that eventually their aim to destroy the Union will succeed.

As a Scot I am thoroughly ashamed of the SNP - they have already destroyed so much goodwill, created divisions between friends and families and no matter how bad a job they do in Scotland they seem to get away with it. The SNP are a disgrace.

I agree varian that the SNP seem hell bent on stirring up bad feelings between England and Scotland. Perhaps they are still bitter that they lost the YES/NO referendum and they are looking at anyway to control our lives here in England whilst not effecting those in Scotland. How can it be right that a Scottish political party can have so much say on issues that clearly do not effect their voters?

Makes me think of a naughty child using a stick to poke an ants nest to see what happens!

Part of the problem is the first-past-the-post electoral system which gives the SNP far too many MPs. The LibDems have only 8 seats and yet the SNP who only got HALF as many votes as the LibDems in the 2015 election have 56 - this is outrageous.

The SNP claim to favour proportional representation yet they are happy to use their swollen numbers to hold the rest of the country to ransom whenever it suits them.

On the Today prog it said it was because it would bring down wages in the UK which would have a knock on effect in Scotland. Something to do with the Scottish workers currently getting extra money for working Sundays. Can't anything be done about the SNP members voting on stuff that actually does not affect them directly? I thought the fragrant Nicola had already agreed to that?

Did any of you read the article? The issue does affect workers in Scotland who are paid premium rates to work on Sundays. There is no such provision in this England/Wales Bill where an employer will be able to set rotas which require workers to do Sunday shifts, at their usual rate of pay. I cannot believe that the Major UK wide Retail Chains and Supermarkets will continue to pay Premium rates in Scotland if they are not forced to do this in E & W too.

The SNP (together with the Labour Party) have tried to have premium pay rates included in the legislation to protect shop workers and having failed to do so must, in all conscience, vote against the bill. This is not really an England/Scotland dispute rather a Workers Rights v Big Business Profits issue.

NotTooOld my DD has moved back South from Edinburgh last week and I can assure you she was not receiving extra for Sunday working in Asda.

Thank you, Granny for explaining the situation regarding workers rights. Do workers in England want to work on Sundays for the basic rate of pay or is giving them the Premium rate of pay more appropriate? The SNP and Labour Party want English workers to be payed in line with the Scottish Sunday workers. It is up to those affected by this legislation to speak out now before it is finalised.

Workers in England and Wales who already work on Sundays don't get premium rates unless it's in their contract, so the government could hardly change the Sunday trading laws and also make employers pay their staff more.

Presumably they want the big retailers to embrace extended Sunday trading, hardly worth changing the law if no one takes them up on it because they'd have to pay higher wages.

No idea gillybob, I don't live in Scotland and have no idea of wages in Scotland

Firstly I would be interested to hear exactly what these so called premium rates of pay (for working Sundays) are. Preferably from someone who actually works in a shop, in Scotland, on a Sunday and not quoted from some paper or other.

Secondly the new bill as I understand it makes provision for those people who do not wish to work Sundays at all.

The SNP are forever bleating on that they stand up for the Scottish people and their best interests. What then gives them the right to prevent English/Welsh MP's from doing the same for their local communities?

I can now imagine a situation where any proposition put forward that could potentially benefit the English people would be voted against by the SNP.

The SNP should have had the decency to abstain from the vote.

Why as a devolved nation would the pay for Sunday working change?

Sunday trading laws in Scotland are devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

If the SNP believe this could happen as a devolved parliament could'nt they ensure this doesn't happen? I don't know the answer can anyone inform me .

There is no reason that any such change in England and Wales should affect anyone in Scotland. English and Welsh MPs were not able to vote on Sunday trading laws in Scotland and Scots MPs should not vote on this.

The only possible reason for them to do so is to damage relationships between different parts of the UK. That is the agenda of the separatist SNP.

Please remember that most people who live in Scotland never voted for the SNP and the 800,000 Scots living elsewhere in the UK have never been consulted about whether they want to be made foreigners in their own country.

Why does anyone want or need longer opening hours on Sundays? There's plenty of time for shopping as it is.

I fail to understand why the SNP would want to even get involved in the debate never mind vote on a matter that clearly is of no concern to them. Throwing their weight around maybe? Spite even? or as has been suggested by varian to deliberately try to damage relationships between different parts of the UK?

I disagree Harlequin and to be honest, whether we need the longer hours or not is not the argument here.

A lot of people work full time during the week. Many of us (the sandwich generation) have more family responsibilities than any generation before us. I am not the kind of person who shops for the sake of it or for fun and I live a good 30+ minutes drive away from a good shopping centre. A Sunday is usually the only chance I get.

No! Like most things political, hypocrisy, double dealing and downright dishonesty seem the order of the day. As has been said, the Scottish Parliament decides workers pay on Sundays, so how can anything decided in England affect them?!! What is decided in England is none of their business. The SNP are unpleasant opportunists hell bent on causing the present government as much grief as they can, even to the point of bringing it down! The sooner they b****r off back to Scotland, join the EU, embrace the euro, .and live happily(?!!) ever after the better. They're a disgrace. Nothing personal against you, lady from Scotland, just hurt and frustration at the SNP.

Exactly, they are a disgrace.It's time the government got cracking on the English laws for English people charter, it's taking too long.

Varian - SNP currently running at 60% in the polls for the Scottish Elections in May.

The SNP were strongly lobbied by USDAW to vote against the Bill viz:

^John Hannett – Usdaw General Secretary says: “We were given the opportunity to restate our case to the SNP today, the same case we made last year, and they listened to what we had to say. In response they did not identify anything that had changed, since the SNP leadership took such a strong position against the Government before Christmas, and confirmed there is no deal with the Government.

“The SNP were right last year to be concerned about the effects on Scottish shopworkers’ pay and the Government has not resolved those concerns. We ask that they vote against the Government’s proposals tomorrow, but it is difficult to understand why the Party should now be considering again their opposition.

“It would be a betrayal of Scottish shopworkers if the SNP do not vote against the Sunday trading changes in the Enterprise Bill. Our members would be left baffled and angry if the SNP allowed a Conservative Government to undermine the livelihoods of shopworkers across the UK.”

Angus Robertson MP, leader of the SNP in Westminster, correctly identified the impact of the Government’s Sunday trading proposals on Scottish shopworkers last November and called for “firm proposals for safeguards and guarantees to ensure shop workers are not left worse-off following any changes to Sunday trading”, and that longer Sunday trading “should not be happening on the back of often low paid shop workers in Scotland and throughout the UK.” Those proposals have not been forthcoming.^

I repeat - SNP (as a social democratic party) are acting on behalf of all shopworkers in the UK. The SNP cannot block the wishes of people in England/Wales as there are only 54 of them. The Conservatives have a large enough majority to ensure that they cannot be defeated UNLESS ALL of the opposition and a large enough number of Conservatives vote against the Government.

How nice to be able to vote on another's country laws when they cannot vote on yours.

It's bringing back the matter of imbalance between those countries who have the fortune of having a Devolved Parliament and England who have only just managed to get second best with English Votes For English Laws.

Talking of which why is EVIL not in place if this is for England only?

Sorry but I don't buy the argument from the SNP in this matter .

I see you are a political activist, Granny23 and you appear to have swallowed the SNP's propaganda wholesale. Sadly far too many Scots have been taken in by them. Let's hope they see sense before the May elections.

The SNP is not a social democratic party - what they are doing here is a travesty of democracy.

The whole point of this bill is to devolve the power to decide on Sunday trading to Local Authorities in England and Wales - a devolved power that the is already devolved in Scotland.