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

Thérèse Coffey Excerpts

Friday 13th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Nadhim Zahawi]

My hon. Friend will not be surprised if I disagree with him on that point.

This April obviously included an extra bank holiday, and retail sales increased by 5.2% as shoppers took advantage of the additional holiday.

[Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend have similar data for Wales on 1 March?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I do not, but I am happy to source more data for Wales. However, I would not be surprised if something similar happened throughout the country, as when people have an additional day off, they use it to visit retail outlets.

The other beneficiaries would be our local pubs and great British breweries, especially the micro-breweries, which would undoubtedly attract many who wish to toast St George, and in Wales, St David, just as many already toast St Patrick and St Andrew. With the creation of special events building on those that already occur throughout the country, our leisure and tourism industries would also do very well.

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[Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)]

I rise to make a short contribution to the debate. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi) for bringing the debate to the House. I am sure that the campaign he is spearheading is very popular, if not populist. However, I have some slight concerns about the international comparisons that have been made. The reality is that across most of continental Europe, bank holidays, which are normally associated with particular feast days or national events, are not transferred to the following Monday or previous Friday when they fall on the weekend. For example, if Christmas day falls on a Saturday, in Germany that is it and they do not get the following Monday off. That happens in most continental European countries, if not all. My hon. Friend alluded to America, and I appreciate that they tend to take shorter holidays in the summer, with 10 days' statutory entitlement being quite normal.

I applaud my hon. Friend’s patriotic stand in seeking to ensure that we have holidays that celebrate our country, but I would like him to consider the point made by the hon. Member for Dudley North (Ian Austin), which I agree with, that people do not require a holiday to be able to celebrate our wonderful country, as happens in our civic parade in Saxmundham and in similar events elsewhere in Suffolk Coastal.

In reference to the point my hon. Friend the Member for Castle Point (Rebecca Harris) has just made on how the Government are considering other bank holidays, I see that as a really important contribution to establishing why we need 1 May to be a bank holiday—I know that that may be controversial on the Opposition Benches. Why not choose a day of national celebration? It could be the Queen’s birthday or, as my hon. Friend the Member for Tamworth (Christopher Pincher) suggested, Trafalgar day.

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I applaud my hon. Friend for thinking through some of the issues surrounding the Bill, but does she agree that, whichever day we settle on, it should be one that the nation supports as the right day to celebrate?

[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.

[Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab/Co-op)]

In Scotland, apart from the obvious public holidays such as Christmas day that appear on fixed dates, many public holidays are local holidays. Different local authorities will choose different days for their spring or autumn holidays, so the system works perfectly well not just within a whole nation, but locally. Will the hon. Lady be clear about May day, however? I was concerned that she was suggesting that the May holiday should not continue, and I hope she was not, because if that approach were to be associated with introducing St George’s day and St David’s day, it would destroy the otherwise bipartisan approach to the debate. I am sure that the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi), who has introduced the Bill, would not want that either.

[Dr Coffey]

I am not trying in any way to associate that idea with the Bill; I am trying to suggest that the Government should take some time to think about the public holidays that affect each individual nation and the United Kingdom as a whole, and to decide whether they are well spaced out, whether there is a concentration around a particular time of year and whether we could do with moving some—be they 1 May, 30 May, the one in August or similar—to different points of the year. It is a long stretch from 31 August right through to Christmas day, especially when we have so many holidays granted to us earlier in the year.

My hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon commented on economic activity, and I should like to see more understanding of that issue. I will not oppose the Bill, because it merits further debate, but I look forward to the Government’s comments, particularly given that some of my local business people have said, “Another bank holiday means another day that I have to pay someone who may not be generating value for my business.” That might seem a bit miserly, but it is not intended to be. That is the reality, and we need to ensure that we are as productive as we can be. We should fly our flags with pride on St George’s day, 1 March, 30 November and 17 March, but we must ensure that we do not put ourselves at a disadvantage compared with our international competitors, and not just those within the European Union.

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[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi) on moving the Second Reading of his Bill, and on making so many pertinent points.

Many great and some not so great men and women have attempted to define the English identity. I will not compete with them by trying to weave tea, Shakespeare, queuing and tabloids into a national narrative. I am even less well qualified to pontificate on the essence of Welshness.

The Labour party strongly supports the celebration of the English and Welsh national identities. We are proud that we helped to reclaim the cross of St George from the British National party. I think it is true to say that when we now see it flying on our streets, all English hearts can swell with pride, rather than fear racist insults. The Welsh have been ahead of the English in maintaining a strong focus on and pride in their national symbols: the flag of St David, the daffodil and their national dress.

Many St George’s day celebrations are held in my constituency of Newcastle upon Tyne Central. Kids of all ethnic backgrounds delight in recreating St George’s feats of heroism, to which the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon referred. I tried to emulate St George’s courage and skill by competing in the egg and pan race at the Villa Victoria’s St George’s fun day in the Westgate area of Newcastle. I am afraid that I was not worthy of his memory, but I will have another opportunity next year to carry off the golden frying pan.

[Dr Thérèse Coffey]

Perhaps the hon. Lady would have more joy if she participated in “Dragons’ Den”.

[Chi Onwurah]

I thank the hon. Lady for that intervention. I will consider that in the run-up to next year’s event.

The royal wedding in April was a huge celebration of national identity. A million people came to London to celebrate with good humour and great pride, and all over the country people gathered in pubs, parks, streets and halls to watch. Even republicans managed to enjoy it in their own way and with good grace. We hope that the Government are already putting in place measures to ensure that the Queen’s diamond jubilee next year is as “amazing” as the wedding, as Her Majesty is reported to have characterised it.

The Opposition do not oppose Second Reading and look forward to seeing the Bill in Committee, but a number of important issues have to be considered before we will support it. The hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon considered the economic impact, and we are aware of the Government estimate that an additional national bank holiday would cost £2.9 billion. That would have clear implications for business, trade unions and other stakeholders.

There are issues besides costs for the Committee to examine. For example, we must make fair international comparisons. As the hon. Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey) said, I am not sure it is fair to claim that we have significantly fewer holidays than others, because in France, for example, if May day falls on a Saturday or Sunday there is no day off in lieu. With our strong sense of fairness, we ensure that a bank holiday is always a working day. Taking that into account, I believe that, on average, other European countries have only a slightly larger number of bank holidays. The French Government are reportedly considering reducing the number of public holidays. The hon. Lady pointed out that the US has more, but the trade-off is that far less holiday time is provided for businesses and workers.

There is a further concern that is the subject of daily and hourly discussion throughout these isles—the weather. As my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley North (Ian Austin) said, an April bank holiday has little chance of coinciding with an English heat wave—nor, I am told, is March the best time to showcase Welsh sunshine. As a nation, we are working harder over longer hours, in more stressful conditions, so should we not have a decent chance of decent weather on a day off?

Furthermore, some might question the principle of telling hard-working men and women what they should do with their time off. It does not sound very English, does it? Unlike the French, the English have no need of an académie to celebrate the language of Shakespeare. Some might question whether a bank holiday is necessary to strengthen the homeland of Churchill, Brunel, Boadicea and St Cuthbert, to name but a few, or for that matter the home of Owain Glyndwr and the Eisteddfod.

As has been mentioned, however, a poll conducted for St David’s day 2006 found that 87% of people in Wales wanted it to be a bank holiday, with 65% being prepared to sacrifice a different bank holiday. The hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (Jonathan Edwards) referred to the strong support in Wales for a St David’s day bank holiday. We therefore believe that there is strong evidence of popular interest in making St David’s day and St George’s day bank holidays, and that it is worth while examining in more detail how the matter can be taken forward. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is in pre-consultation on the May day bank holiday, and as a result we hope to learn more about British attitudes to bank holidays. We hope, though, that we will not lose our May day bank holiday.

We believe that we should celebrate our national identity, and unlike the Government we believe in promoting strong local, regional—we have not yet banned the R-word—and national identities. We look forward to discussions in Committee to see whether the Bill is the best way of doing so.