St George’s Day Bank Holiday update issued by government

A government spokesperson has issued an update over the prospect of making St George’s Day an official Bank Holiday – England is set to celebrate its Patron Saint tomorrow

A major update has been issued following calls to make St George’s Day an official Bank Holiday.

St George’s Day was first recognised in England as early as the 9th century. It became a major feast and national holiday in the 15th century, and now children learn about the Patron Saint of England in schools.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested the UK should get four new Bank Holidays back in 2017 – one for each patron saint of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

There have been other campaigns for it to be made an official Bank Holiday too. A now-archived petition on the government’s website argues: “St Patrick’s Day has been a Bank Holiday in Northern Ireland for 100 years, St Andrew’s Day was recently made a bank holiday in Scotland… England gets only eight bank holidays a year, fewer than most European countries.”

Asked about the policy in 2024, then-leader of the opposition Keir Starmer said a new Bank Holiday for St George’s Day would not be possible due to ‘the economy’, while then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declined to commit to one either.

Sir Keir told BBC at the time: “A Bank Holiday would be very nice but I think that, with the economy where it is at the moment, we have to celebrate in-and-around the work that we’re doing, because we need to absolutely take our country forward.

“What I want to do, if we’re privileged enough to come into government, is to have a government of service to the country and have a decade of national renewal – and that would fulfil St George’s Day’s promise.”

This week, a government spokesperson told the Express that the cost of a one-off extra Bank Holiday, such as the one created for the King’s Coronation in 2023, would be around £2Bn for the UK. As a result, there are ‘no plans’ to change the April 23 date to a Bank Holiday.

They said: “While we are proud to celebrate all of our patron saints, the current pattern of bank and public holidays is well established, and we have no plans to change it.”