Street markets, long family lunches, strolls in the park . . . For the French, Sunday is a great tradition, a time to enjoy the finer things in life while other silly countries such as Britain keep working. So President Sarkozy's plan to "abolish Sunday" and let the shops open is running into a hail of criticism.

Parliament is due to pass a Bill tomorrow to ease France's strict trading laws, but hostility to it is so widespread that some MPs in Mr Sarkozy's own centre-right camp predict that it could unravel before becoming law.

The President's plan to abolir le dimanche is being resisted by an unlikely coalition of interests, including the centre and left-wing Opposition, the Roman Catholic Church, the trade unions and small shopkeepers who fear losing their existing Sunday business to supermarkets. Up to 60 per cent of the public, according to polls, are also against a scheme that will reverse the century-old right to a day of rest.