WE are set to enjoy a bonus bank holiday this June to mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
And now campaigners including TV stars Kate Garraway and Prue Leith are calling for the holiday to be made PERMANENT.
The new bonus annual holiday would be dubbed a “Thank Holiday” and introduced in 2023 to recognise not only the Queen’s lifetime of service but also to mark how we all pulled together during the pandemic.
The campaign is being led by the Together Coalition, co-founded by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
More than half a million UK businesses have written to Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak to ask for this year’s one-off extra day’s break to become permanent.
This would bring the total number of bank holidays in England and Wales to nine — still considerably lower than many European countries. France, for example, has 11.
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In the past, calls for an extra bank holiday have been dismissed over concerns of the cost to the economy.
But new research from accounting firm PwC shows the existing figures have been overestimated by 64 per cent.
Campaigners argue they also fail to take account of the boost an extra day off would give to retail, hospitality and tourism — all hit hard by the pandemic.
A raft of organisations including the CBI, the British Retail Consortium, Royal Voluntary Service, the Scouts and the FA are calling for a new holiday to honour the Queen and the sacrifices of ordinary people over the past two years.
Backing the campaign, Tony Danker, Director General of the CBI, said: “The proposal for a Thank Holiday to recognise the Queen’s service and extend that notion of service across communities is an exciting one. Business is keen to support it.”
A host of famous faces have also backed the idea of an extra annual holiday.
‘INCREDIBLE SERVICE’
Good Morning Britain host Kate Garraway — whose husband Derek Draper was hospitalised for 13 months by Covid-19 — believes it would be a great way of marking the service given by so many in the pandemic.
She said: “It is a brilliant idea to make the extra holiday permanent. The country has been through a huge ordeal over the past two years.
“A new bank holiday will give us a day each year when we remember the people who stepped up, our NHS heroes, key workers and all who did their bit.”
And Bake Off judge Dame Prue Leith said: “The last two years has shown us how much we need each other and how painful it is being disconnected. A Thank Holiday would be a yearly prompt to reconnect.”
The Scout Association is one of many voluntary groups endorsing the idea of a new bank holiday.
Chief Scout Bear Grylls said: “Our Queen deserves our thanks for her incredible lifetime of service, and so do millions more across the country for their own daily acts of sacrifice and support.
“So let’s ask for a special day each year in honour of the givers, the heroes.”
Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: “I support this idea of a holiday to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee but also who we are as a nation.”
Retail and hospitality businesses are keen to have the extra holiday to boost their pandemic-hit sectors.
Kate Nicholls, CEO of UK Hospitality said: “It is time for a Thank Holiday to mark the service of Her Majesty and recognise the fortitude of the entire nation in the past two years. The nation’s restaurants and hotels stand ready to embrace this tribute.”
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Helen Dickinson, chief executive at the British Retail Consortium, said: “The extra bank holiday would offer an opportunity for the whole country to come together in celebration.”
Catherine Johnstone, chief executive at Royal Voluntary Service, said: “The Platinum Jubilee will be a celebration of Her Majesty’s extraordinary service over 70 years. It’s also a wonderful moment for the nation to reflect on how we support each other.”
