Downing Street poured cold water on anyone's hopes of a permanent new bank holiday to mark the Queen’s long reign. Brits are set for an extra day off on June 3 to mark the monarch’s Platinum Jubilee this year - and businesses had called for the bank holiday to be made permanent.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and Hospitality UK all supported the move to recognise the Queen's 'extraordinary service'. According to reports today, Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie are all in favour of the extra bank holiday, although it is understood that Mr Sunak is yet to fully consider the proposals.
However, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman this afternoon said a bank holiday was estimated to cause a £2 billion hit to the economy and that because of this, it is highly unlikely that it would be introduced permanently.
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“I’m not aware of any plans to make it permanent,” the spokesman said. “But obviously we keep the cost of these things under review.”
The spokesman said each bank holiday “presents a considerable and significant cost to our economy and therefore each proposal would have to be considered carefully on that basis”.
Should it be made permanent? Have your say in our comments.
Following Easter, there are six more public bank holidays in the UK in 2022 coming up. These include:
- Early May bank holiday - May 2
- Spring bank holiday - June 2
- Platinum Jubilee bank holiday - June 3
- Summer bank holiday - August 29
- Boxing Day - December 26
- Christmas Day (substitute day) - December 27
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