Prime Minister Keir Starmer has dropped his heaviest hint yet that he will grant a bank holiday if England win the 2026 World Cup, as the Three Lions prepare for their quarter-final clash with Norway on Saturday
Keir Starmer is preparing to grant England fans a bank holiday if the Three Lions triumph at the World Cup.
The Prime Minister has dropped his strongest hint yet that he wants to reward the nation with a day off should Thomas Tuchel’s side end 60 years of hurt.
When asked whether he would approve 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 working on the proposal, though details remain under discussion. A bank holiday would not automatically fall on the Monday following the final – which marks Mr Starmer’s last day in office – and would most likely take place on the Friday after the World Cup final.
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It could also align with a victory parade for the England squad, who are unlikely to return to the UK from New Jersey until Monday should they reach the final.
The Scottish Government approved a Bank Holiday last month after Scotland’s first World Cup fixture in 28 years kicked off at 2am. And while in opposition, Mr Starmer piled pressure on Boris Johnson’s Government to grant an additional bank holiday if the Lionesses won the Euros in 2022.
England are building momentum ahead of a quarter-final showdown with Norway on Saturday following a dramatic victory over Mexico in the round of 16 fixture on Monday. At the Nato summit in Turkey, Mr Starmer shared some friendly banter with Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Stoere as the pair posed in their respective team’s football shirts.
He also joked that he’d been swamped with messages urging him to campaign for Jarrell Quansah’s red card to be overturned, after Donald Trump pressured FIFA to reverse 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 stepped in at the weekend to block efforts to alter the kick-off time in England’s World Cup clash against Mexico amid concerns it would hand the hosts an unfair advantage. He also intervened to permit pubs to remain open until 5am so supporters could watch the game.