Clamour for a royal wedding bank holiday
London Mayor says a day off would bring huge benefits but May says there are no plans for one
Sadiq Khan has joined calls for a one-off holiday to mark the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The Mayor of London said the “benefits would be huge” and the public could “do with being cheered up”. Theresa May has so far suggested there will be no extra bank holiday in May.
PRESSURE is growing on Theresa May to grant a bank holiday for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, as the Mayor of London says the “benefits would be huge”.
Sadiq Khan said the public could “do with being cheered up”, arguing that the benefits of tourists streaming into the UK would merit a day off.
The Prime Minister has so far signalled that there will be no new bank holiday declared to allow the public to celebrate the May wedding, which will take place in Windsor.
Asked about the possibility of a bank holiday during her trip to the Middle East this week, Mrs May said the public would already be cheered by the simple sight of “two young people in love”.
Speaking on LBC radio yesterday, Mr Khan said he was “absolutely” in favour of granting the public a day off, adding: “I’m so excited about Meghan and Harry getting married. When I think of the benefits to our city … I looked at the figures for when Prince William got married to Kate, the amount of good it did our city.
“The world saw London in a positive light. Hotels were booming, retailers were booming, restaurants were booming, the theatres were booming.”
He suggested that although he understood that business would be lost when firms closed for the day, the benefits would be make it worthwhile.
“Do you know what?” he asked listeners. “We could do with a day off, we could do with being cheered up, we could do with people coming to London and spending time here in London.
“Windsor is down the road and so look, my message to the Prime Minister, my message to the Government, is: you haven’t got much right, get this right, call a bank holiday.”
Mr Khan also confessed he was a big fan of Ms Markle’s show Suits, saying of her move to the UK: “Suits’ loss is Prince Harry’s and London’s gain.”
The Mayor of London’s official Twitter account later underlined the sentiment, challenging Downing Street: “How about it @Number10gov? An extra bank holiday for next year’s royal wedding would be a fantastic way to celebrate the big day.”
Downing Street sources have so far signalled there will be no bank holiday, citing a lack of precedent.
Although the public were given a day off to celebrate the weddings of Princess Anne to Mark Phillips in 1973, Prince Charles to Diana Spencer in 1981 and Prince William to Catherine Middleton in 2011, no such days were awarded for Princes Andrew or Edward.
The date of the wedding has not yet been confirmed, but the final weekend in May, which sees a bank holiday fall on Monday May 28, is the favourite option among pundits, as the Duchess of Cambridge is expecting her third baby in April.
A study conducted in 2012 by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) showed that, on average, a bank holiday costs the UK £2.3bn in lost economic output.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding in April 2011 accounted for a £527million increase in UK retail spending, according to an estimate from the Centre for Retail Research, a British firm.
A spokesman for Kensington Palace said the question of a bank holiday was a matter for the Government.