Welsh Council hits out at Labour Party over St David’s Day snub

Emily Price

A Welsh council has hit out at the Labour Party after its request to designate St David’s Day as a bank holiday was rejected by the UK Government and “completely ignored” by the Welsh Government.

In 2021, Gwynedd Council unanimously voted to declare March 1 a holiday for staff to mark the celebration of Wales’ patron saint.

After being forced to pause the custom amid “harrowing financial cuts”, councillors wrote to the previous Conservative government in Westminster asking for St David’s Day to be designated a formal bank holiday – but the request was rejected.

With a new Labour government now in power, Gwynedd councillors voted unanimously to ask again if Wales could have the right to designate March 1 as an official holiday.

Cost

But the UK Government’s Business and Trade Department said that such a move would be too expensive.

Labour MP Justin Madders said in his letter to councillors: “While an additional bank holiday may benefit some communities and sectors, the cost to the economy of an additional bank holiday is considerable.

“The UK Government has no current plans to change the well-established and accepted pattern of bank holidays in Wales.”

Gwynedd Council’s Chair, Beca Roberts, also wrote to First Minister Eluned Morgan on the matter of a St David’s Day holiday – but says she didn’t receive a response.

The Plaid Cymru Councillor for Tregarth and Mynydd Llandygai said: “I am extremely disappointed that the Labour party in Cardiff supported Cyngor Gwynedd’s request for a national bank holiday on the first of March back in 2021, yet when the two governments are of the same political background, no response is forthcoming from Cardiff.

“We were full of hope to see this matter resolved through Labour’s collaboration in Cardiff and Westminster. We will continue in our endeavours.”

Powers

England and Wales currently have eight bank holidays a year while Scotland has nine and Northern Ireland has 10.

The Scottish Parliament made St Andrew’s Day a bank holiday in 2006 by passing the St Andrew’s Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act.

St Patrick’s Day has been considered a bank holiday in Ireland since 1903.

Government estimates show that a single additional bank holiday in the UK could cost the economy around £2.4 billion.

But Gwynedd Council says the economic success of St Patrick’s Day in Ireland “is evidence of what is possible”.

In 2000, the then National Assembly voted unanimously in favour of powers for Wales to designate its own public holiday on March 1 – but it was ignored by Westminster.

Despite widespread calls, successive UK Governments have failed to allow Wales to establish the celebration of Dewi Sant as a bank holiday.

‘Second class’

Plaid Cymru Gwynedd and Llandderfel Councillor, Elwyn Edwards says Welsh people are being treated as “second class citizens” in their own country.

He said: “What upsets me is the fact that the Welsh Labour Government has declared its support to us previously, but now they are in power in Cardiff and London, not a single word has come from the Labour party in Cardiff to our request. We are being completely ignored.

“On top of the disgrace of being treated as second class citizens in our own country, it is ironic that both Labour governments now run Senedd Cymru and Westminster Parliament, but we continue to receive a lukewarm response.

“Would it be a such a chore to see the Labour party working together at both levels of government to give a nation of people the right to celebrate a significant occasion for its residents?”

The Welsh Government says it still wants the power to designate St David’s Day as an official public holiday.

A spokesperson said: “St David’s Day is widely celebrated across Wales and all over the world. Bank holidays are decided by the UK Government.

“We have previously asked the UK Government for the Senedd to have the powers to make St David’s Day a bank holiday and that continues to be our position.”