A NEW bank holiday could be on the horizon as Rishi Sunak today refused to rule out giving millions of Brits an extra day off.
The PM was asked why St George’s Day could not be a public holiday in England during a visit to Staffordshire.
AFPThe PM joked he would “definitely love a day off” during a visit to Staffordshire[/caption]
He had in the past declined to comment on it, simply saying England’s patron saint day – celebrated on April 23 – is an “incredibly proud day”.
But during a Q&A on the campaign trail, the PM said: “We all love to have days off, right. Let’s be honest, I would definitely love a day off, I can tell you that.
“But there’s lots of other things that come along with bank holidays and the impact they have which we need to take into account.
“But the thing that you touched on though, which is important, is that taking a moment to celebrate and be proud of who we are, and our country.
“And that is an incredible thing and whether we need bank holiday for that as a separate thing.
“But we should never be ashamed to be proud of our identity, of who we are as a country.
“And actually what we’ve seen over the last several months in particular, is sadly there are forces who are trying to divide us, who are trying to emphasise all the differences. And I think that’s sad, and it’s wrong.”
In 2017, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he wanted four new UK-wide bank holidays to mark each UK nation’s patron saint day.
Asked about back in April, Sir Keir Starmer suggested a new bank holiday was not possible because of the economy.
Campaigners pushing to make St George’s Day bank holiday have previously argued the UK has fewer bank holidays per year than other major industrialised nations.
The average across European Union countries is 11 whereas England and Wales typically get eight.
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