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Shops Given Option To Open 24/7 In The Run Up To Christmas

Shops Given Option To Open 24/7 In The Run Up To Christmas

Non-essential shops are set to reopen later this week

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

There's some good news if you're the sort of person who leaves their Christmas shopping until the last minute, as the government has announced shops will be able to say open longer during December.

With non-essential shops set to reopen this week as national lockdown measures ease off, shops owners have been told they can choose to stay open later - and even have the option of being open 24/7.

Housing and Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick said he was happy to let shops stay open for longer and urged councils to waive the rules that dictate opening hours.

PA

Under current rules, any shops that want to stay open past 9am to 7pm from Monday to Saturday must apply for permission, which can take weeks, but Jenrick has said he wants to pause that process to help business owners.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Jenrick said: "With these changes local shops can open longer, ensuring more pleasant and safer shopping with less pressure on public transport.

"How long will be a matter of choice for the shopkeepers and at the discretion of the council.

"But I suggest we offer these hard pressed entrepreneurs and businesses the greatest possible flexibility this festive season.

"Therefore as Local Government Secretary I am relaxing planning restrictions and issuing an unambiguous request to councils to allow businesses to welcome us into their glowing stores late into the evening and beyond if wish.

"And those stores and supermarkets will be able to replenish their shelves whenever they wish, with flexible deliveries to keep the streets free for the rest of us when we are out and about."

PA

He went on to say the new rules would apply across Christmas and through into January.

He added: "In a year when government has necessarily interjected into our lives in ways none of us who value individual liberty would ever have imagined, these changes remind us that we can and must seek every way to reduce the burden of bureaucracy and free our small businesspeople to get on with earning a living and serving the public".

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: UK News, Politics