Some see any restrictions on trading hours as fundamentally at odds with a free market, others think it’s outrageous that we allow any retailing at all on a Sunday.

I respect both of those views, but I find myself aligned – personally and on behalf of the convenience stores I represent – with the majority of the public who, time after time, tell us that they support the current compromise of allowing six consecutive opening hours on a Sunday.

The latest scores on the doors, from a Populus poll last month, suggest that 58% of the public support the current Sunday trading rules, while the 21% who oppose them are more or less split between the two camps stated above.

So why are we discussing this yet again?