A plan to lift restrictions on Sunday trading during the Olympics has been criticised by Labour and the main shopworkers' union amid concerns it could lead to a permanent change in the law.
Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, said the government was threatening to change centuries of tradition, and the shopworkers' union Usdaw said its members would be "vehemently opposed" to the change.
The row broke out after George Osborne confirmed the government would rush through legislation to allow large stores to trade for longer during the Olympics and the Paralympics. Under trading laws, large stores – those with more than 280 square metres of shop floor space – are not allowed to open for more than six hours on Sundays between 10am and 6pm.
The chancellor said on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show that the government planned to relax these rules from 22 July, the weekend before the Olympics opening ceremony, until 16 September, a week after the end of the Paralympics.
"We've got the whole world coming to London and the rest of the country for the Olympics," Osborne said. "It would be a great shame, particularly when some of the big Olympic events are on Sunday, if the country had a closed-for-business sign on it.
"So this is just for the Sundays of the Olympic Games and the Paralympics – that's what we need the legislation for and maybe we'll learn lessons from it but it's just for the Olympic Games."
Balls challenged the chancellor: "If it's just for the Olympics there should be a consultation, it should be done properly. Today, on Mothering Sunday, there are mums at home with their kids because Sunday trading means they can have the morning off …"
John Hannett, the general secretary of Usdaw, said he would meet the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, to complain about the lack of consultation.
"Deregulation would do little to stimulate growth or create jobs but would have a very detrimental impact on the lives of millions of shopworkers and their families," Hannett said. "Any change would fly totally in the face of the government's commitment to be family-friendly."
Hannett dismissed Osborne's claim that Britain would be seen as closed when shops were allowed to remain open for 150 hours a week. "There is understandable suspicion that the government is trying to use the London Olympics as cover for its wider deregulation agenda," he said.