Labour jump the gun with St George’s Day blunder

BLUNDERING Labour officials were so eager to celebrate St George’s Day that they tried to do it yesterday – 24 hours too early. After the greeting “Happy St George’s Day”, the party’s Twitter account trumpeted its policy of making all UK countries’ patron saints’ days official bank holidays.

The tweet, which has now been deleted, said: “With the next Labour government, we’ll celebrate the patron saint with a bank holiday and bank holidays for St Patrick, St David and St Andrew too. Sound good? Share the news.”

But the news many other Twitter users and political opponents were keenest to share was the party’s gaffe. Michael Fabricant, the Tory MP for Lichfield said: “St George’s Day is on the 23rd, not the 22nd Dummies!”

One person tweeted: “Er, guys, St George’s Day is tomorrow? If your [sic] going to pretend to care about the country, at least do it on the right day?”

Last year, Jeremy Corbyn vowed to introduce bank holidays across the UK for patron saints’ days, if he were to come to power.

The party said it will “show our pride and celebrate our country’s tradition of fairness, inclusivity and social justice”.

The holidays would include St David’s Day on March 1, St Patrick’s Day, on March 17, and St Andrew’s Day on Nov 30.

The party has said it will ask for the support of the governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland so the same four holidays can be enjoyed across the UK.

‘The day is tomorrow. If you are going to pretend to care about the country, at least do it on the right day’