PLANS for a campaign to change controversial Sunday trading laws have been rejected by retailers in Dorset.

Giant shopping centres across the country are said to be joining forces to lobby the government in time for next year’s Christmas sales.

Boxing Day 2010 falls on a Sunday, when retailers are only allowed to open for six hours, and many fear they will have to turn away thousands of customers.

But Nigel Hedges, President of the Bourne-mouth Chamber of Trade and Commerce, said he will not be joining the clamour for change.

“I think it works very well at the moment. People are able to go shopping on a Sunday but employees cannot be forced to work and do not have to work long hours.

“In countries like America shops are open 24 hours a day but I don’t think it’s necessary here – people have to rest and have a break. We’re slipping down the slope to 24 hour trading which would be very difficult for the self-employed and for small businesses.”

Peter Matthews, manager of the Castlepoint shopping centre, said the campaign for change is a “knee-jerk reaction” and has not been thought through properly.

“People will still spend the same amount of money because there is only so much money to spend in the economy,” he said.

But David Ramsden, of lobby group Deregulate, which led the campaign for Sunday trading in 1994, said total deregulation was the only sensible way forward. Mr Ramsden, of Queens Park Avenue, Bournemouth, said: “It’s a ridiculous situation. A Tesco Express or Sainsbury’s Local can open all day on Sunday but the same firms can’t open a supermarket for more than six hours. Total deregulation is the answer but will the legislation be changed for next year? I doubt it.” The campaign for longer Sunday opening hours is being led by Gordon McKinnon, operations director at the Trafford Centre, Manchester.

Mr McKinnon said 30,000 people were still inside the centre when shops had to close on Sunday December 27 and added: “Turning people away in the current economic climate is just lunacy.”