Moving May Day could ‘extend tourism season’
Could the Maypole be facing the chop? With the government considering a new bank holiday later in the year, Channel 4 News fans on Twitter and Facebook have been busy suggesting where it should go.
The May Day bank holiday could be dropped and replaced by either a St George’s Day in April or a Trafalgar Day in October under plans to boost domestic tourism.
Tourism minister, John Penrose, said moving the May Day bank holiday to St George’s Day on 23 April would get the tourist season off to an earlier start, while putting it back to the October half term would prolong it.
The government will consult on any possible changes and on when to introduce them. There is likely to be no change until 2013.
The government’s tourism strategy said that moving the holiday to October “would give us an opportunity to be patriotic where none exists at present, help to strengthen the Union and underpin the Big Society too”.
The bank holiday around St George’s Day could be a “National Day” holiday while the October one could be either a “UK Day” or a national day to commemorate military victories such as Trafalgar.
England and Wales have fewer public holidays than many of their European neighbours with nine compared with Germany’s 13 and Spain’s 14.
Channel 4 News analysed the amount of public holidays and statutory annual leave entitlement across 10 developed nations and found that only the US and Canada have fewer holidays than England and Wales.
But a proposal for “double summertime” to bring the UK’s clocks into line with Europe’s was not in the tourism strategy, despite widespread reports that it would be included.
Mr Penrose said it had been decided not to include the time change in this strategy as the Government was already considering it separately.
The Government would seek the consent of those living in Northern Ireland and Scotland when considering changing the clocks.
A Daylight Saving Private Member’s Bill is currently going through Parliament which, if successful, would require the Government to look at the benefits of a change to European time.
Tourism trade deficit
The strategy looks to exploit the economic opportunities presented by next year’s Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics.
It builds on a marketing plan, launched in January, which aims to generate, over the next four years, an extra four million visitors to Britain, who will spend an additional £2bn, and help to create 50,000 jobs.
One of the main aims of the strategy is to increase the proportion of UK residents who holiday domestically to match those who go abroad.
It says that this “tourism trade deficit” where only 40% of UK nationals’ spending on tourism stays within the UK, compares unfavourably with European competitors.
“As a nation we are a little bit prone to underplay what we have on our doorstep,” said Mr Penrose.
We asked you where you would like to see a new bank holiday and what you would call it. Here are your replies via Twitter and Facebook.
@Bentleysbird October, need a break then, still have Easter & spring bank early in the year
Matthew James McDade via Facebook: Trafalgar Day in October would be my preference. It seems an awfully long time between the last BH in August and those at Christmas and we could do with one in the autumn. I'd also quite like the notion that we can celebrate some of our past victories (such as Trafalgar, Agincourt or Crecy) without feeling guilty. Not that I'm anti-French at all and perhaps I should have chosen one or two examples that didn't reflect upon our close friends across the water!
@sonofr: Both rubbish...why not Great Britain day?
Neil via Facebook: Does no may day mean no morris dancers? If so, please move it! :)
Andrew Wolffe via Facebook: What about St Andrews day for Scotland, St Georges Day for England, St David's Day for Wales? The Irish alreafy have Paddy's Day Let's celebrate the uniqueness of the regions and stop trying to have one solution fits all.
@Polaroydbeats I think we should have all three. Maybe Davey C will create big society day where we all go to work and don't get paid
Paul Clements via Facebook...interesting to see how many MP's actually work anyway...the amount of recesses they have is quite astonishing.
@purpleline Trafalgar Day weather is better and too many holidays in first part of the year. Too long between Aug bank hol to Xmas
PiXie Dust via Facebook: I didnt realise that the new government cuts applied to the holiday periods as well, how many hours of time are they wasting talking about this when they really have more important issues to address... what are they trying to distract us from now.......
@celticchickadee what the heck does St George's Day have to do with 3 out of 4 of UK nations????? #anglocentric #nosurprisetherethen #c4news
Bertil Rogers via Facebook: the people day @ how about naming it the Big Society civic holiday or the big bang day instead of a bank holiday
bossarocker @channel4news Hands off our May Day! I'm all in favour of an Oct Bank Hol but it should be as well as, not instead of.
@Kate_Butler how about a 'UK Day' if we *must* celebrate. at least it rhymes ;)
Diane Anderson via Facebook: okay we absolutely must keep May Day as part of our cultural heritage, Pagan Dancing, May Poles, May queens, Green Men, Stags, Orange Blossom, Meadows, Hobby Horses, why do we always want to celebrate battles, We won it happened, May?spring is a major celebration and we should be doing more to help society revive these customs. It's our heritage.
‘Backbench grudge’
The strategy was welcomed by the VisitBritain and VisitEngland organisations.
But trade unions claimed that the proposal to move the May Day workers’ holiday was ideological and instead pushed for an extra bank holday in the autumn.
Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union, said there was “no reason” to move the May day public holiday to create a new one in the autumn.
He said: “The real reason for moving it could be that the former public schoolboys who lead the government are against May Day for ideological reasons.”
The Trades Union Congress is calling for May Day to be retained and wants a new October bank holiday called Community Day to celebrate volunteering and community work.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said it would be unwise to “mess around” with an established bank holiday in order to satisfy Conservative grassroots.
“There is strong support for an extra public holiday as the UK has the stingiest allocation in Europe.”
“The government should rise above this backbench grudge, stop rearranging the deckchairs and introduce an extra bank holiday in late October instead.”
A Confederation of British Industry spokesperson said: “Moving a bank holiday has limited business impact – a day of lost production in May is the same as one in October.
“At a time when we are going for growth, an additional bank holiday, aside from one-off celebrations like the royal wedding, would not be welcome.”