MINISTERS are preparing to reject plans to allow supermarkets, garden centres and other large stores to extend opening hours on Sundays, after Labour MPs threatened a revolt.

Big retail chains mounted a heavy lobbying campaign for a further deregulation of Sunday trading laws, after the Government began a consultation earlier this year.

But more than 170 Labour MPs have declared themselves opposed to any change, saying it would put further pressure on the family lives of 2.7 million retail workers and other staff.

They also say that smaller local shops of less than 3,000 sq ft, which are exempt from restrictions, would lose business. The MPs have signalled the strength of their opposition through a Commons motion which, including opposition MPs, has 287 signatures.

Any move to extend Sunday trading hours would be subjected to a free vote in both Houses, as it was when the law was first changed in 1994 to allow limited Sunday trading.

Given that ministers and other frontbench MPs by convention do not sign such Commons motions, there is a likelihood that a majority of MPs would vote against any further liberalisation.

One government source told The Times: “Look at the number of people [on the motion]. You can do the maths yourself.” The Department of Trade and Industry is still considering the results of its consultation by Ian McCartney, the Minister for Consumer Affairs and a former trade unionist, but is said to be sympathetic to calls by shopworkers not to allow wider Sunday opening, although most shopworkers can refuse to work on Sundays.

An announcement abandoning the prospect of further Sunday trading legislation for England and Wales is likely before the summer recess of Parliament, which begins next month.

Last month ministers published an independent analysis suggesting that extending opening hours for large stores on Sundays would boost the economy by £1.4 billion a year, with estimated benefits of £64 per household a year, as stores cut their costs by easing congestion at peak times.

Garden centres, supermarkets and other large stores would be the biggest winners, along with some smaller complementary shops, the analysis predicted. The losers would be small convenience stores which would lose out-of-hours trade, and some uncompetitive larger shops.

Alan Johnson ordered a review on Sunday trading laws last autumn, when he was Trade Secretary. Last month he became Education Secretary, leaving the decision to his successor, Alistair Darling.

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