Starmer drops large trace about financial institution vacation plans if England win World Cup
Prime Minister Keir Starmer dropped his heaviest hint yet that he wants to reward the nation with a day off if Thomas Tuchel’s men end 60 years of hurt by winning the World Cup
Sir Keir has dropped a huge hint(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
England will get a historic bank holiday if the Three Lions roar to World Cup glory, Keir Starmer has suggested. The Prime Minister all-but confirmed he wants to reward the nation with an extra day off if Thomas Tuchel’s men end 60 years of hurt.
Asked if he’d grant a bank holiday if England wins, football-mad Starmer told reporters at the Nato summit: “On the question of a bank holiday, I don’t want to jinx it, but ask me again if we get to the final.”
Downing Street is understood to be preparing for the bun-off bonanza, but details are still being thrashed out.
It would not automatically fall on the Monday after the final, which is Mr Starmer’s last day in office before he hands the keys to No10 to Andy Burnham. Instead, it would likely be held on the Friday after the World Cup final.
That would also coincide with a victory parade for the England team, who are unlikely to make it back to the UK from New Jersey until Monday if they do make it to the final.
The Scottish Government approved a Bank Holiday last month after Scotland’s first World Cup fixture in 28 years was held at 2am. And in opposition, Mr Starmer heaped pressure on Boris Johnson’s Government to grant an extra bank holiday if the Lionesses won the Euros in 2022.
England are gearing up with a quarter final clash with Norway on Saturday after a dramatic victory over Mexico in the round of 16 fixture on Monday. At the Nato summit in Turkey, Mr Starmer bantered with Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Stoere as the pair posed in their team’s football shirts.
He also joked that he had been inundated with messages asking him to push for Jarrell Quansah’s red card to be lifted after Donald Trump put pressure on FIFA to overturn a ban on US star Folarin Balogun.
He said: “I can’t tell you how many messages I’ve had to rescind the red card that we received in the early hours of Monday. I hasten to add, I haven’t attempted to do that.
“But look, I don’t want to jinx all this. I thought we were fantastic the other night against Mexico, absolutely. I mean, one of the best England performances I’ve ever seen I think in terms of strength and resilience, and across the squad, across the team as well.”
He added: “I said to Jonas, the Prime Minister of Norway, we’re very strategically aligned, I’m good friends of his… But for 90 minutes on Saturday evening, we’ll have to go our different ways as we go into that match.”
The PM intervened at the weekend to block attempts to change the kick-off time in England’s World Cup game against Mexico after fears it would give the hosts an unfair advantage. He also stepped in to allow pubs to stay open until 5am to allow fans to watch the game.
