It’s not often I give gushing praise to the government – but thank heavens they’ve finally seen sense on the subject of Sunday trading laws.

My only criticism is that they haven’t had the guts to just get on and do it themselves – leaving it up to local councils to make the decision.

Because I have no doubt that they will decide to relax the rules – unless they really want to prove to the world that they are dinosaurs trying to deny the march of history.

If shops in Colchester, Bury, Clacton and Norwich open unrestricted on a Sunday, can you really see any councillors – however behind the times they are – in Ipswich denying their local shops the same opportunity.

Are they really going to be happy to see shoppers heading off to Westfield for a full day at Stratford because Debenhams on the Cornhill has to close at 4.30pm?

I’ve always felt the Sunday trading laws are a nonsense. You don’t get trains only running for six hours on a Sunday, or cinemas only opening from noon to 6pm. Why should a special exception be made for retailers?

I just hope that the government pulls its finger out and gets this legislation through before Christmas. As for religion; Sundays are special to Christians, but in our multi-faith society other days of the week are special to other religions.