UK prime minister Boris Johnson may call an extra bank holiday if England wins Sunday’s football final at Wembley.
According to the reports, ministers are discussing the possibility of a bank holiday on Monday (12), the day after the final, if England wins.
On being asked whether he will declare Monday a bank holiday in the event of an England win, Johnson said: “I think that would be tempting fate; let’s see what happens.”
Not ruling out altogether the possibility of the holiday, Johnson’s spokesperson added that “clearly we want England to go all the way and win the final, and then we will set out our plans in due course”.
However, Downing Street sources suggested the timing of the match meant it will be much too late to give fans an emergency day off next Monday – but other options were being considered.
Either way, government officials think there should be a “national day of celebration” if Harry Kane and team co-lift the trophy. There are also reports of manager Gareth Southgate and players such as Raheem Sterling being in line for knighthoods, regardless of the result.
The government confirmed earlier this week that licensing laws will be relaxed to allow pubs to stay open until 11.15pm in case the game goes to extra-time and penalties.
Now that the England-Italy final will be held in front of a 60,000-strong crowd – the same as Wednesday’s semi-final, questions are being raised about the safety of allowing so many fans to watch the match in person during a pandemic.
Since seven earlier matches in the tournament were held as part of the government’s events research programme, set up to test the safety of mass gatherings, shadow sports minister, Alison McGovern, has called on the government saying data about the safety of these matches should be produced before Sunday (11).
“If they have the data they should publish it, and if they don’t have it, they should say why,” she said.
Mark Easton
And , Sue Baker OBE
