Holyrood parties urged to commit to St Andrew’s Day national holiday

Scotland’s political parties have been urged to commit to making St Andrew’s Day a national holiday when they draw up their manifestos for May’s Holyrood election.

A letter sent to party leaders by Dennis Canavan, who introduced the 2006 Bill that made November 30 a bank holiday in Scotland, said action was needed as the holiday is “not widely recognised” at present.

It pointed out that banks are not obliged to give employees the day off, and that only a small number of local authorities have made it a holiday for schools and staff.

The letter was sent in the former MSP’s role as secretary of the parliamentary cross-party group on St Andrews Day.

It was accompanied by a strategy paper by the group, which includes the proposal to introduce a national holiday “on or around November 30”, possibly in place of an existing public holiday if employers are reluctant to grant employees an additional day off.

Mr Canavan’s letter reads: “It is now nearly 20 years since the Parliament unanimously passed my Bill to make St Andrew’s Day a bank holiday.

“However, the holiday is not widely recognised and not even the banks are obliged to give their employees a day off.

“Furthermore, only three out of the 32 local authorities in Scotland have a holiday for schools and, in some cases, other council employees, on or around St Andrew’s Day.

“I would be grateful therefore if you would arrange for this email and attachments to be considered by the drafters of your Party manifesto with a view to including a commitment to promote the celebration of St Andrew’s Day, including the wider recognition of a St Andrew’s holiday, so that all the people of Scotland would have the opportunity to celebrate our national identity and our membership of the international community.”

The strategy paper points out: “There is already a recognition of St Andrew as a symbolic significant Scottish national icon.

“The introduction of a nationwide holiday simply seeks to incorporate this into our national calendar.”

The paper sets out a role for a range of bodies, including local government, tourism groups, the voluntary sector and cultural organisations, in promoting and celebrating St Andrew’s Day.

It also suggests retail businesses could use St Andrew’s Day as a “day for special deals”, similar to black Friday the day after Thanksgiving Day in the US.

St Andrew’s Day is the feast day of Andrew the Apostle, who was officially named patron saint of Scotland in 1320.