New St George’s Day Bank Holiday update issued by government

An update on calls to make St George’s Day an official Bank Holiday on Thursday, April 23, has been issued by government following years of campaigns. The day celebrating the Patron Saint of England has been a fixture of the country for hundreds of years and can trace its roots back to the death of St George in 303AD.

Back in 2017, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested the UK should get four new bank holidays, one for each patron saint of the four constituent nations, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Campaigners for a St George’s Day on April 23 Bank Holiday have previously argued that the UK has fewer Bank Holidays per year than other major industrialised nations, with the average across European Union countries being 11.

Asked about the policy in 2024, leader of the opposition at the time Keir Starmer said that a new bank holiday for St George’s Day would not be possible due to ‘the economy’, while then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declined to commit to one either.

Sir Keir told the BBC at the time: “A bank holiday would be very nice but I think that, with the economy where it is at the moment, we have to celebrate in-and-around the work that we’re doing, because we need to absolutely take our country forward.

“What I want to do, if we’re privileged enough to come into government, is to have a government of service to the country and have a decade of national renewal – and that would fulfil St George’s Day’s promise.”

Today, the government told the Express that the cost of a one-off extra Bank Holiday, such as the one created for the King’s Coronation in 2023, would be around £2Bn for the UK.

As a result, there are ‘no plans’ to change the April 23 date to a Bank Holiday.

A spokesperson told the Express: “While we are proud to celebrate all of our patron saints, the current pattern of bank and public holidays is well established, and we have no plans to change it.”