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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for United Kingdom

The list of United Kingdom bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2008, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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28 Oct 2008 (AFP-London) In reply to a written question from an opposition lawmaker, Constitution Minister Michael Wills told the House of Commons that there were no longer plans to create a new "Britishness" public holiday, or rename one of the existing bank holidays as such. • 17 Aug 2008 (The official site of the Prime Minister's Office) The government of the United Kingdom has posted an official response to last year's e-petition to create a new annual public holiday, the National Remembrance Holiday. The response does not dismiss the idea of an additional annual public holiday (called bank holidays in the UK), but does point out that the Royal British Legion, and many others, feel that a public holiday, and associated drinking and merry-making, close to Remembrance Day, would be inappropriate. Some alternatives mentioned in the response would be VE-Day (May 8), D-Day (June 6) or the current Veterans' Day (June 27). • 12 Jul 2008 (Travel Trade Gazette) Following the presentation, in March, of a petition to Downing Street, signed by 522,000 in support of a new bank holiday, a delegation from Thomas Cook met trade minister Lord Digby Jones last week. • 26 Jun 2008 (The Guardian) In the running saga of the search for a new UK public holiday, a new idea has recently surfaced; that of making the 2012 Tuesday after the Summer Bank Holiday a public holiday, thus creating a 4-day public holiday. The reasoning is that 2012 is the year of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee (60 years on the throne) and that a special one-off public holiday was declared for the Golden Jubilee in 2002. • 11 Jan 2008 (The Daily Mail-UK) The UK's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said he would look at ideas for an extra public holiday. At this time, the most likely option would be to make the Monday nearest to November 11 a public holiday. • 26 Dec 2007 (Travel Weekly + The Daily Mail) Thomas Cook, is launching a massive advertising campaign to pressure the government to add another bank holiday. • 29 Aug 2007 (Financial Times) The Institute for Public Policy Research, a left-leaning think-tank, said in a recent paper that the new "British National Day" should be launched as an extra bank holiday on the Monday after Remembrance Sunday. • 25 Jul 2007 (The Telegraph) Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced that he is set to make July 24 a national day for celebrating volunteering - and possibly make it a new bank holiday. • 18 Jul 2007 (Ireland.com) The Vatican has announced that Saint Patrick's Day would be observed on March 15, 2008, instead of the traditional date of March 17, since Saint Patrick's, will coincide with the second day of the Holy Week and under the Catholic Church's rules, the saint's feast day does not rank as high as the Monday before Easter. • 27 Jun 2007 (CSM and Bloomberg) The new Prime Minster, Gordon Brown, is quoted as favoring a new "Britishness" public holiday, which could be set in June. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the United Kingdom public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Governing Law: Official public holidays in the United Kingdom are regulated by the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 which repealed the Bank Holidays Act of 1871, and was later amended in 1971, 1973, 1974 and 1978. • Weekend Public Holidays: Public holidays that occur on a weekend are moved to the following Monday. • May Day Bank Holiday is sometimes referred to as Early May Bank Holiday. • The Summer Bank Holiday is a major full-blown public holiday despite the fact that it is observed on different dates depending if one considers Scotland or the rest of the UK, and is therefore classified as a "regional" public holiday. • Scotland Only: on November 30, 2006, the St Andrew's Day Holiday Bill, to make November 30 an official public holiday, was approved unanimously by the Scottish Parliament.This new holiday, however, can be traded for any one of the eight other public holidays Scottish workers enjoy . • Other Sources of Information For information not covered here, see the following specialized websites: Bank of England (United Kingdom central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (maps, demographic and economic statistics), Copp Clark (financial markets' trading hours, settlement holidays and currency non-clearing days), and the IFES Election Guide (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and past voter participation).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in United Kingdom, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world. Aft=Afternoon, Arm=Armenian, Bah=Bahai, Bnk=Banks and most financial institutions, Bud=Buddhist, Cat=Catholic, Chr=Christian, Cop=Coptic, Eve=Evening, Gov=Government services and civil servants, Hin=Hindu, Jew=Jewish, Lin=Linguistic or ethnic groups, Mor=Morning, Mun=Municipal, Mus=Muslim, Orth=Orthodox, Othr=Miscellaneous partial observances (usually described in the Additional Information section of this page), Prt=Protestant, Reg=Regional, Rel=Other Religion, Sch=Schools and universities, Sik=Sikh.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2008 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for United Kingdom, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of United Kingdom, before planning any trip to United Kingdom. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.