Why Labour has dropped plans to make St George's Day a Bank Holiday - Christopher Hope analysis
Keir Starmer issued a St George's Day campaign video today
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Despite all his warm words about St George's Day, it seems that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer does not want to put his money where his mouth is and make England's National day a Bank Holiday.
Starmer his X feed to tweet what St George's Day meant to him. "This is what real patriotism is about: serving the country we love," he said. "Today on St George's Day we come together to celebrate our shared history."
That’s as far as it goes though as a party source tells me today that a Labour policy in the last manifesto to make today a Bank Holiday has now been dropped. Yet you might have thought it was one policy that the Starmer of 2024 could agree with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on.
Corbyn had fought the 2019 general election on a policy to introduce UK-wide bank holidays for each of the patron saints of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
These would have seen Bank Holidays on St David’s Day (1st March), St Patrick’s Day (17th March), St George’s Day (23rd April) and St Andrew’s Day (30th November).
Corbyn’s offer then was one for workers, pointing out that with only eight public holidays, the UK currently has the fewest of any G20 or EU country. He said: "I am patriotic about the UK and what that means to me is caring for the entire society. Patriotism is about supporting each other, not attacking somebody else."
There is no doubting the popularity of making St George's Day a Bank Holiday - 75,000 people as of this morning had signed a petition on Change.org calling for April 23 to be a national holiday.
What has probably changed – in a cost of living crisis - is the cost. The Conservative Government has already ruled out making April 23 a Bank Holiday on account of the lost productivity to the UK economy.
Business minister Kevin Hollinrake told MPs a few weeks ago: "The cost to the economy of an additional Bank Holiday remains considerable" - at around £2billion. The current pattern of Bank Holidays is well established and accepted and we have no plans to change it."
Starmer is going further than, say, PM Rishi Sunak who marked St George's Day by sipping from a cup of coffee in a mug marked with a red cross, with a message: "Perfect way to start the day. Happy St George’s Day!"
But Starmer had to go further - if only to show voters that Labour has changed since Corbyn was leader when - fairly or unfairly – his lack of patriotism and respect for the country's pillars, such as its Monarchy, was questioned,
For now Starmer's remarks about St George’s Day are just that - just warm words: England's wait for a Bank Holiday on April 23 will have to wait.