MPs 'back new bank holiday plan'

Industry leaders claim a new bank holiday would cost too much

More than 50% of MPs support the introduction of a new public holiday, a survey has suggested.

Britons currently enjoy eight bank holidays compared with 11 in France, 15 in Germany and 16 in Spain. Slovenia is top in Europe with 18 days.

Figures showed 85% of Scottish MPs want an extra bank holiday compared with 54% of English MPs and 51% of Welsh MPs.

The study for tour company Thomas Cook, which is giving its employees an extra day off, surveyed more than 150 MPs.

Furthermore, the holiday company has started a petition in a bid to put more pressure on the government to approve an extra bank holiday.

'Unbelievable'

Thomas Cook's executive director of marketing, Simon Carter, said: "We're calling on the government to seriously look at the number of bank holidays that Brits have.

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"At the moment it's unbelievable that Brits sit almost at the bottom of the European bank holiday league with only eight days off a year."

In August 2007, a political think tank urged Prime Minister Gordon Brown to create a new bank holiday in November to thank community heroes.

However, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has previously warned of the costs that may be caused by introducing another bank holiday.

Britain is almost unique in Europe in having no bank holidays between the summer and Christmas, although MSPs last year voted to make St Andrew's Day in November a day of national celebration in Scotland, with firms legally allowed to close for a voluntary public holiday.