Firms: Give us all a June bank holiday ...every year

BUSINESSES have called to give this year’s extended June bank holiday a permanent place on the calendar.

Bosses representing British firms have today written to Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak urging them keep the extra day off in the diary.

They claim the Government currently over-estimates the cost of public holidays and that a new one would help to boost health and productivity.

The end-of-May bank holiday is being pushed back to Monday June 6, so it falls over the same weekend as the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Supporters of the campaign – including Dragons’ Den star Deborah Meaden, Britain’s biggest business group the Confederation of British Industry and trade body UK Hospitality – say it would be ‘a fitting tribute to Her Majesty’s 70 years of public service’ and would also help out firms which rely on tourists and shoppers.

The Government estimates that each bank holiday costs £1.4billion. But research by accountancy giant PwC suggests the figure is overestimated and a Monday off would cost £877million and a Friday £786million.