St George’s Day and St David’s Day Bill

Debate between Baroness Coffey and Henry Smith

Friday 13th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Dr Coffey]

That is a fair point, and there is no more popular day than a day celebrating one’s country, although, with reference to what was aid by my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Mr Chope), who is no longer in his place, I am conscious that we have always to support the United Kingdom. We have had the royal wedding day, and with the diamond jubilee next year I think that such moments of unity may be more appropriate dates on which to build.

[Henry Smith]

My hon. Friend mentioned public holidays in the United States earlier, and until not that long ago some states celebrated some public holidays and other states did not; Martin Luther King day is the most relevant example. We could have national and sub-national holidays in this country. They could work quite well, and I see no problem with having a Trafalgar day, a St George’s day, a St David’s day, a St Andrew’s day, a St Patrick’s day and so on. That works in other countries with subdivisions.

[Dr Coffey]

My hon. Friend makes a valid point. In Scotland they have not only new year’s day off, but 2 January. Perhaps they have such a good time at Hogmanay that they need two days to recover; I do not know the convention around that. Of course, it was not until fairly recently—perhaps within our lifetime, my hon. Friend may note—that Christmas day became a day off in Scotland, so I fully accept that different countries within the United Kingdom might have different traditions that they wish to modify.