Do you think St George’s Day and St David’s should be made national holidays?
While St Andrew’s Day and St Patrick’s Day are national holidays in Scotland and in Northern Ireland respectively, St George’s Day in England and St David’s Day in Wales are not.
In 2007, Tony Blair rejected calls for St David’s Day to become a bank holiday, despite a poll revealing that 87 percent of Welsh people wanted a March 1 holiday. School children used to be given a half-day holiday, and in some parts of Wales, this tradition continues.
Jeremy Corbyn will today reiterate his pledge to introduce a new national holiday to mark the patron saint of England. He has said: “If we win the next election, St George’s Day will become a national holiday for Britain’s workers. It will be a day where we can all show our pride and celebrate our country’s tradition of fairness, inclusivity and social justice.”
Under Labour’s proposals, UK-wide public holidays will be held on St David’s Day (March 1), St Patrick’s Day (March 17), St George’s Day (April 23) and St Andrew’s Day (November 30).
The Scottish Parliament made St Andrew’s Day a national holiday a decade ago. Recent support for the idea of a national holiday on St George’s Day, 23rd April, has been growing and has been discussed in the Commons every year since 2006.
What are your views? Do you think St George’s Day and St David’s should be made national holidays? Would you support this or do you think we have more than enough bank holidays already?
