Progress has stalled on a Private Members Bill to give shop workers the same protection from assault as emergency workers.

The Bill was due for its Second Reading earlier this month, however the time lapsed and there is currently no indication that it will move any further.

Graeme Morrice, Labour MP for Livingston, who tabled the bill, expressed disappointment that the Bill did not receive Parliamentary time but said he hoped it would be tabled again at a later date.

“I will certainly leave open the option of tabling it again in the future but, meantime, it is something I will be trying to get my party to include in its manifesto for the next general election,” he said.

Morrice had hoped that the Bill would provide shop workers similar protection against assaults as emergency service workers, with similar, harsher penalties handed down. “It is important that all public-facing employees, including shop workers, receive the same kind of protection under the law that emergency workers have currently,” he said.

A similar Bill tabled in Scotland also failed to become legislation in 2010. Proposed by Labour MSP Hugh Henry, the Protection of Workers (Scotland) lost by 75 votes to 42 as it was felt that it “risked creating a hierarchy of victims”.