Petition to make St David’s day a bank holiday almost at 3k signatures

A petition to make St David’s Day a bank holiday has almost reached 3,000 signatures.

The campaign to pressure the UK Government into devolving the powers to create bank holidays for Wales to the Welsh Government is gathering pace, but it has so far refused to do so.

This is despite Scotland and Northern Ireland already having the power to designate respective patron saint Bank Holidays.

Back in 2000, the then National Assembly for Wales voted unanimously in favour of a St David’s Day bank holiday. However the democratic vote in the Welsh legislature was ignored by Westminster.

In 2014 it was reported that First Minister Carwyn Jones had written to the Secretary of State for Wales to seek the power to make Wales’ national day a bank holiday. But the move was rebuffed by the UK Government’s Wales Office.

In the petition by Elfed Wyn ap Elwyn to the UK Government and Parliament, it is argued that it is “time to make this special day a bank holiday in Wales”.

If the petition receives 10,000 signatures the UK Government will respond to it, and if it receives 100,000 signatures it will be considered for debate in the UK Parliament. The deadline for the petition is 14 April 2022.

‘Significant day’ 

The petition states: “Dydd Gwyl Dewi / St David’s Day has always been a significant day in Cymru / Wales, and has been used to celebrate everything Welsh.

“It’s time to make this special day a bank holiday in Wales, just like Scotland has St Andrew’s Day, and Ireland has St Patrick’s Day as bank holidays.”