Don’t mess with May Day: Bank holiday pre-consultation
The Government is currently running a “pre-consultation” on moving May Day bank holiday, potentially to October.
The idea is that a later bank holiday might help stimulate domestic tourism. Whilst this could be true, the loss of domestic tourism in May would be greater than the gain – just ask any of the big retail companies and trade associations currently lobbying against the move.
We and a number of big players in the tourist industry are saying that we need an extra public holiday as well as the current May Day holiday we’ve been celebrating since the middle ages. Adding an all-new date in October would move us up from the bottom of the European league tables on public holidays too. The TUC and voluntary sector organisations have proposed a new “Community Day” in October, to help celebrate and encourage community volunteering.
The Government’s consultation ends on Thursday 9th June. If you want to join us in defending May Day, and in calling for an additional bank holiday, please use this form to add your own submission to the pre-consultation.
UPDATE: The pre-consultation has now ended. Many thanks to everyone who sent their own message to DCMS. We’ll keep you informed on the results via this site.
