Boris Johnson has poured cold water on proposals for a bank holiday to mark Britain’s departure from the European Union.
Nigel Farage famously said June 23 – the date of the EU referendum in 2016 – should become known as Britain’s Independence Day, while others have suggested an annual holiday should be declared for March 29, the formal date of Brexit in 2019.
But Mr Johnson made clear he was wary of attempting to “impose a celebration” on voters, many of whom remain bitterly opposed to Brexit.
The Foreign Secretary said he would “certainly” be celebrating on the day of Brexit and would encourage others to do the same.
But he told reporters during his visit to South America: “I think it was Doctor Johnson who said: ‘Believe me sir, there is nothing quite so hopeless as a scheme for merriment’.
“I don’t think we can impose a celebration on people. I will certainly be celebrating, I would encourage people to celebrate.”
He was also sceptical of the economic wisdom of extra bank holidays, of the kind promised by Jeremy Corbyn if Labour wins power.
“I don’t know what another bank holiday would do to close our productivity gap,” he said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel