Sunday Trading

George Osbourne is about to relax the hours of Sunday Trading.

Osborne said: “Even two decades on from the introduction of the Sunday Trading Act, it is clear that there is still a growing appetite for shopping on a Sunday. There is some evidence that transactions for Sunday shopping are actually growing faster than those for Saturday.

Sunday trading laws allow all stores to open for six hours between 10am and 6pm, while small shops covering less than 3,000 sq ft, or less than 280 square metres, can open all day.

The lobby group Open Sundays claims the reform would bring in £20.3bn over 20 years to the British economy.

Adrian Pepper of Pepper Media is a director of Open Sundays. Pepper have clients like Asda for example. In July 1999, Asda became a subsidiary of the American retail company Walmart, and today is the United Kingdom's second-largest chain by market share. In the US Wal Mart are known one of the ‘benefit queens’ and are well known for their use of subsidised, low cost labour.  

This is his CV.

For over a decade, Adrian has been leading public relations consultancy Pepper Media Ltd, which comprises a team of senior public relations consultants managing the reputations of people and organisations in the public eye.   The consultancy has developed expertise in providing public relations campaign advice to governments, NGOs, charities, religious and sports organisations.

Adrian’s advice has been sought by world-beating companies such as Asda Walmart, BA, BAA, Barclays, BP, BSkyB, EDF Energy, HSBC, InBev, JCB, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Nike, NHBC, Pearson and numerous property developers.

Pepper Public Affairs is the specialist regulatory and political advisory arm of the Pepper Media group.  It provides advice to leading UK companies and professional services firms on how to assess and manage regulatory risk.

Adrian is a director of opinion research company SRU Ltd.  He is also a director and trustee of a number of other entities.

2002 – ongoing                 Chief Executive, Pepper Media Group

www.peppermedia.co.uk

2012 – ongoing                  Director, Trade Out of Poverty Ltd

www.tradeoutofpoverty.org

2011 – ongoing                  Director, Sustainability Research Unit Ltd

www.sustainabilityunit.com

2008 – ongoing                  Director, Pepper Public Affairs Ltd

www.peppermedia.co.uk/Public-Affairs.aspx

2001 – ongoing                  Director, Global Business Research Ltd

www.gbri.org

2002 – ongoing                  Director, Pepper Media Ltd

www.peppermedia.co.uk

1998 – 2008                         Director, Bootlace Productions Ltd

1996 – 2002                         Consultant, Bell Pottinger Communications Ltd

1996                                    Special Adviser to the Secretary of State, Dept of National Heritage

1994 – 1996                         Public Affairs Manager, ProShare (UK) Ltd

1993 – 1994                         Desk Officer, Conservative Research Department

1991 – 1993                         Research Assistant, House of Commons

This is bad news for shop workers.

The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency: Campaigning to end secrecy in lobbying.

Lobbyists are paid to influence government decisions. So, whether it's the private healthcare lobby pushing for the current NHS reforms; or banks lobbying against reform of the financial system; or the construction industry wanting to get their hands on greenbelt land, the activities of lobbyists affect our lives in countless ways.

We think the public should know who is influencing government decisions.

And the government agrees in principle - it has promised to make lobbying transparent with a register of lobbyists. But its current plans to open up the influence industry are a sham. Now is the time to tell them what you think, and put an end to the back-room deal nature of politics.