Mr Mark Williams (Ceredigion) (LD)
I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to devolve to Welsh Ministers responsibility for the determination of specified bank holidays in Wales; and for connected purposes.
I am lucky enough to be bringing this issue before the House on St David’s day, when people throughout Wales and the diaspora throughout the UK and indeed the world will be celebrating the life of Dewi Sant and our Welsh cultural identity. May I wish you, Mr Speaker, and everybody, dydd gwyl Dewi hapus—happy St David’s day?
St David or Dewi Sant is a renowned and inspirational figure in Wales. He was responsible for spreading Christianity throughout much of western Britain. He was the Archbishop of Wales, and was a fundamental figure in the establishment of religion in our country. He had particular links to my constituency, being the grandson of King Ceredig, the founder of the kingdom of Ceredigion, while his mother, Saint Non, was born in the village of Llanon. It is said that St David was educated at the Henfynyw monastery, near the village of Ffos-y-ffin, in the centre of Ceredigion. It was in the village of Llanddewi Brefi in 550 AD, at a raucous meeting of the synod of the Welsh church, that David, finding it difficult to make himself heard, placed a cloth on the ground and the earth rose to form a mound on which he could stand and preach. That miracle of St David put the village of Llanddewi Brefi on the map long before the contemporary Dafydd of “Little Britain” fame.
It should therefore be no surprise that the calls for making St David’s day a public holiday in Wales are particularly strong in my constituency. His contribution to Wales cannot and should not be ignored. Today, many people will publicly celebrate dydd Dewi Sant in my constituency and throughout Wales, with celebratory parades, school pupils wearing traditional Welsh costumes, the singing of Welsh songs and the recitation of poetry. People will take part in eisteddfodau and cymanfaoedd canu—singing festivals—displaying some of Wales’s rich cultural traditions. We will see celebrations of Welsh culture in London, with children from the London Welsh School, the London Welsh Centre and the Wales in London group doing their bit to promote Wales and the life of Dewi Sant. The St David’s day service in St Mary Undercroft ended a few moments ago, and I am glad to see that the House of Commons catering department has risen to the occasion by providing fabulous Welsh cuisine procured from Wales, which I would encourage all hon. Members to experience.
It is no coincidence that I am using this opportunity to pursue the issue of devolving the power to set public holidays on this very important day for Wales. The issue of St David’s day and the ability of Wales to designate public holidays has been raised many times over many years by many people from across the political spectrum. I raised it in a Westminster Hall debate in 2011, and that was followed in the same year by the introduction by the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi) of a Bill to make St George’s day and St David’s day public holidays in England and Wales respectively.
I want to make it clear that the Bill does not ask the House to authorise or designate St David’s day as a public holiday, however much I hope it will become one, but, in the spirit of devolution, to ensure that our Senedd—our Assembly—has the powers to decide that matter. Despite the numerous calls to devolve this power, that has not yet come to pass, unfortunately, despite the fact that responsibility for public holidays is devolved to Scotland and that St Patrick’s day has been a public holiday in Ireland since 1903. St Patrick’s day has been used to build Ireland’s profile and to encourage tourism, which has provided a huge boost to its economy.
The Irish Government specifically set up the St Patrick’s festival group, which has aimed to make the celebration one of the finest in the world, to encourage innovation and creativity, to provide the opportunity for those of Irish descent to become involved and to project a positive, forward-looking image of Ireland to the rest of the world. Should such a power be devolved and should the Welsh Government make St David’s day a public holiday, there is every reason to believe that our national festival could be very proactively marketed throughout the world in a more robust way than it has been to date. It would provide a fantastic opportunity for a small country such as ours to make its mark, and it seems preposterous to me that the Senedd cannot make such a decision.
I acknowledge that there have been some concerns from parts of the business community about the possible designation of St David’s day as a public holiday, but that should not stop us giving the responsibility to Wales for the Welsh Government to consult on it and come to a considered decision. We could follow the precedent of Scotland. St Andrew’s day was designated a bank holiday by the Scottish Parliament in the St Andrew’s Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007. At the time, concerns were raised about the possible negative impact that devolving the power would have on businesses and the Scottish economy, but they seem to have been unfounded. It would be a very strange state of affairs if anybody called for that to be reversed. After consultation, the Scottish Government chose to allow banks to decide whether to close on St Andrew’s day and companies to decide whether to observe it as a public holiday. There has since been growing calls and growing support for companies to recognise the holiday fully. Critically, that decision was taken in Scotland.
In Wales, we have similar levels of support for creating a new public holiday. A poll taken at the time of the Scottish decision showed that 87% of people in Wales wanted St David’s day to become a bank holiday. Some 65% of those surveyed stated that they were willing to sacrifice another bank holiday to see St David’s day officially designated. Indeed, my thanks should go to ITV Wales, which in highlighting the Bill has undertaken an online poll. As of 10 o’clock this morning, over 90% of respondents agree that St David’s day should be a bank holiday.
Such support is also seen in all of the parties in the National Assembly, many of whom made manifesto commitments to have the power devolved, and others who provided evidence to the Silk commission called for the power to be given to the Senedd. From the very beginning of the life of the National Assembly, Welsh political opinion, as well as growing public opinion, has been united in its call for St David’s day to become a public holiday.
In 2011, it looked as though the UK Government might finally, as part of their tourism strategy—after pressure, I would candidly suggest, from the Liberal Democrats—consider giving the Welsh Assembly the power to move the spring bank holiday from early May to 1 March. However, nothing came of that, despite great political support for it in Wales. The Welsh Government wrote to the Wales Office in 2013 to call for the power to be devolved, but they were rebuffed, apparently by the then Secretary of State for Wales, the right hon. Member for Clwyd West (Mr Jones). Despite public and political support rivalling the support shown in Scotland, such calls have continued to fall on deaf ears, with successive UK Governments refusing to consider devolving the power to Wales.
If the power continues to be reserved to Westminster, it seems unlikely that St David’s day will become a public holiday any time soon, despite the huge support for that in our country. Is it not now time for the Welsh people to be able to decide whether it is right that St David’s day becomes a public holiday in Wales, rather than that being decided—and rejected—in Whitehall? With only eight public holidays in the UK and in Wales, we have among the fewest of any country in the world. Wales should be able to choose whether to create a new public holiday or to replace it with another. I feel that that decision should be made, through our Senedd, by the people of Wales.
Let me finish by repeating the words of Dewi Sant:
“Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us.”
“Do the little things” or “Gwnewch y pethau bychain” has become a well-known phrase in Wales, and this is all that many of us in Wales are asking for. We are asking for Wales to be given the power that others already have—the power for Wales to choose whether and how to make St David’s day a public holiday, and to celebrate his life and our Welsh national identity how we choose. With this Bill, we would be able to do those little things that could have a very big impact on Wales. I urge the House to support this call.
Question put and agreed to.
Ordered,
That Mr Mark Williams, Gerald Jones, Liz Saville Roberts, Hywel Williams, Jonathan Edwards, Huw Irranca-Davies, Albert Owen, John Pugh and Carolyn Harris present the Bill.
Mr Mark Williams accordingly presented the Bill.
Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 11 March, and to be printed (Bill 145).