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The Conservative MPs who rebelled against the Government to vote down Sunday trading reforms

26 Conservative MPs joined ranks with Labour and SNP MPs to vote against government plans to allow longer trading hours on a Sunday

Siobhan Fenton
Thursday 10 March 2016 09:24 GMT
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The vote, which was held in the House of Commons last night, was voted against by 26 Conservative MPs
The vote, which was held in the House of Commons last night, was voted against by 26 Conservative MPs (Getty Images)

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The Government has lost a vote to lengthen Sunday trading hours for shops after a number of Conservative MP rebelled against their own party. In total, 26 Conservative MPs broke ranks to reject the proposals.

The vote was lost by 317 to 286 after they joined forces with Labour and SNP politicians in what one Conservative MP called a “an unholy alliance” across the political spectrum. The rebellion represents a significant challenge to David Cameron as he attempts to rule with a slim majority, amid growing dissent and unease within his own party.

The proposed reforms would have represented the biggest change to Sunday trading laws for 20 years. Currently, large stores are only permitted to open for 6 hours between 10am and 6pm. The government has suggested that reform would help businesses and give greater freedom to shoppers. However, some politicians raised concerns that the change would result in wage decreases and cause Christian employees to feel pressured to work on a Sunday.

David Cameron held last minute talks yesterday evening with backbencher MPs in a bid to win them round and a compromise amendment was also tabled. However, this was not enough to sway the MPs.

This is a list of all the Conservative MPs who voted against the Government to reject change to Sunday trading hours.

Heidi Allen

Bob Blackman

Fiona Bruce

David Burrowes

Maria Caulfield

Christopher Chope

Nadine Dorries

Steve Double

James Gray

Chris Green

Gordon Henderson

Gerald Howarth

Stewart Jackson

Ranil Jayawardena

David Jones

Jeremy Lefroy

Edward Leigh

Julian Lewis

Karl McCartney

Andrew Rosindell

Derek Thomas

Andrew Turner

Martin Vickers

William Wragg

Peter Bone

Phillip Hollobone

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