A CRUSADE to keep the festive season work-free for all is in full swing - with a local MP urging people to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

The campaign to protect shop workers from having to work on Christmas Day is being backed by Morecambe and Lunesdale MP Geraldine Smith.

She was one of 86 Labour MPs to support the cause to ban large stores from opening on the special day in an Early Day Motion tabled at the House of Commons last Wednesday.

Now the law permits shops to open on December 25, unless it falls on a Sunday, which Geraldine says is 'ludicrous'.

"Everyone is entitled to one day's holiday to spend with their families and relax when they work so hard the rest of the year," she says.

"Obviously there are some services that do need to carry on running but for shop workers there is no reason - and I can't wait for the shops to close."

Geraldine, pictured right, says at a time when many people are concerned that the festive season has become too commercial, it is important that large stores are forced to keep their doors closed on one day.

Although few large stores have so far chosen to open on Christmas Day, Usdaw, the leading shopworkers' union, says workers genuinely fear it is only a matter of time before they do - and that they may be forced to work.

A Private Members' Bill will be put forward in Parliament on January 7, which Geraldine says she will support.