Petition calling for annual bank holiday to honour the Queen passes 100,000 signatures

Virgin Radio

15 Sep 2022, 11:20

A petition calling for an annual Queen Elizabeth bank holiday has gathered more than 100,000 signatures.

The campaign, which began on Change.org, calls for the 8th September, the day of Her Majesty’s death, to become a permanent bank holiday to celebrate her life and historical reign.

Started by John Harris, the description for the petition reads: “Queen Elizabeth II is our longest reigning Monarch, and arguably the Nations, and the World’s most popular ever Monarch.

“In the words of President Macron, ‘to you, she was your Queen, to us, she was THE Queen…The most constant symbol of Great Britain’.

“She was indeed an inspirational woman. Britain has fewer bank holidays than most European countries; France has 11 compared with our 8, Spain has 14.

“I believe we need a new public bank holiday to mark our greatest Sovereign’s lifetime; a Queen Elizabeth Day. A day for our Nation to come together and celebrate both the life of the Queen, and our gratitude for the institution of our Royal Family.”

The petition has been signed by over 131,000 people at the time of writing with many supporting the idea that we take a day every year to pay tribute to the monarch.

Under the campaign, petition signers expressed their opinions, with Tracy Easton writing: “After serving for 70 years this outstanding service needs to be marked. If we can celebrate the 5th November for a negative reason, why not the 8th September for a positive reason?”

Frank McCoid also said: “We shouldn’t forget what the Queen has done for the country and the world.”

While Alan Woodfield added: “I feel that the extra bank holiday is a fitting tribute to such an amazing and selfless Queen. RIP Ma’am.”

This comes as the day of the Queen’s state funeral, Monday 19th September, was declared a bank holiday to allow the public to pay their respects.

Her Majesty’s coffin is currently lying in state at Westminster Hall, with queues of mourners reaching up to 3.5 miles stretching as far as Southwark Park.

A live tracker created by The Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, shows live updates of the queue with an accompanying map and barriers and portable toilets have been installed around Westminster as wait times are estimated to rise to a high of 30 hours in length.