Best of look guys, I know how you feel.
I'm familiar with an airport that used to shut every two hours for a half hour break due to staffing for a while during a summer and there is always a pressure to break schratco.
They never got into the paper though so had to fight it out on their own!
Problem is that the CAA regard any time you are plugged in position, whether talking to aircraft or not, as being on duty and so you cannot say that because nothing happened for half an hour you've had a break.
A lot of pilots and management types often don't understand this fact and find it hard to accept that you're not actually being difficult for the sake of it, you're protecting your licence which is your major source of income.
Often the problem also occurs that when you shut and take your break, you come back to open up again the traffic situation you have to resolve can be very difficult and a lot worse than it would have been if you had broke schratco and continued working anyway.
Catch 22!
The only way it will ever be resolved is to get more controllers but staffing will always be an issue at some of the smaller airfields because the large airfields will always be able to pay more money and poach your staff.