Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to introduce four new bank holidays into each year, including one on St George's Day, which is being marked today.
The policy – which he has dusted off from last year – is for the additional days off to commemorate all four of the UK's patron saints. As well as 23 April, UK-wide public holidays would be held on St Davids Day (1 March), St Patricks Day (17 March) and St Andrews Day (30 November).
Corbyn tweeted today: "The next Labour government will make St George's Day a bank holiday for Britains workers. We'll make sure workers have a day off so we can all show our pride and celebrate our countrys tradition of fairness, inclusivity and social justice."
In a speech today, the Labour leader will point to the fact that the UK has the fewest bank holidays of any G20 or EU country – just eight per year.
He will tell the annual conference of the Communication Workers Union in Bournemouth: “Eight years of Tory austerity, which Labour will bring to an end, have had a disastrous effect on our vital public services and workers have paid a heavy price in the cost of living and their working lives. We will give our workers four extra days paid holiday.”
But the policy could come with a heavy cost.
A 2012 study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research estimated that a single bank holiday costs the economy £2.3bn, meaning four days would cost £9.2bn.
To put that into context, the budget for the Department for International Development is £11.1bn and the cost of NHS pensions is around £10bn each year.
Meanwhile the cost of the Brexit divorce bill on current estimates is £35bn-39bn.
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