British National Day is a proposed official national day for the United Kingdom and a celebration of Britishness. Currently the UK has no single official national day, although the King's Official Birthday is used for this purpose in some contexts.
Overview
Britain has no unique national day. It has a number of days of celebration which go largely uncelebrated, and others which are associated with the constituent countries of the United Kingdom. The latter category includes St George's Day in England, St Andrew's Day in Scotland, St David's Day in Wales and St Patrick's Day in Northern Ireland.
At present, the King's Official Birthday is marked as a de facto national day by British diplomatic missions overseas but not in the UK itself.
Labour government
In June 2008, Immigration Minister Liam Byrne suggested the "August bank holiday" to be made a weekend of national celebration in a speech to Labour Party and think tank Progress. However, Scotland's August bank holiday is held on a different date from that in Wales and England. He later retracted this—after pressure from the Scottish National Party (SNP) – saying he was merely trying to "get the debate started". Angus Robertson MP and Westminster SNP group leader stated "Labour's cack-handed attempts to resuscitate a British 'national' identity are just desperate, motivated by self interest rather than national interest".
In October 2008, in response to a question in the House of Commons from Andrew Rosindell, Minister of State Michael Wills of the Ministry of Justice revealed that "there are no plans to introduce a national day at the present time", leading to suggestions that the proposal had been 'scrapped'. Immediately thereafter, however, a Ministry of Justice spokesman confirmed that national day proposals were still "very much alive", adding that Wills had only meant that no plans had been drawn up at the present time.
Coalition government
In 2011, the coalition government composed of the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats proposed moving the May Day bank holiday in the United Kingdom to October, suggesting it be called 'UK Day' or be associated with Trafalgar Day. The removal of the May Day holiday was opposed by trade unions as a result of its associations with being an International Workers' Day. and by those who supported the continuance of an ancient folk tradition that may have existed since Anglo-Saxon times.
Candidates for a new national day
Most of the suggested proposals for a British Day are already existing holidays or days of celebration in the UK which either are poorly marked by the government and the people, or are not readily associated with the idea of Britishness at present. They include:
1 May, being both May Day and the date that the Acts of Union 1707 took effect. The existing May Day bank holiday sometimes falls on 1 May. Queen Elizabeth's Birthday (21 April) Victory in Europe Day (8 May) D-Day (6 June) Democracy Day (7 June) to remember the Reform Act 1832, also known as the Great Reform Act. The date of the signing of the Magna Carta (15 June) (a legal Charter for the Kingdom of England). The King's Official Birthday (a Saturday chosen in June). Wilberforce Day (24 August) to remember the ending of slavery and the part played by William Wilberforce. Battle of Hastings (14 October) Anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. Trafalgar Day (21 October) Armistice Day (11 November) Remembrance Sunday (Sunday following Armistice Day).
Opposition
On a report about a potential British Day, Peter Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith said: "There were undoubtedly issues raised about how a national day would be received in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. But the important point to stress in this regard is that there ought to be nothing in the framework of the national day to prevent particular areas from creating events that celebrate other shared identities alongside our bond of shared citizenship. People have multiple identities and it would be false for events organised for a national day not to be responsive to that." David Cameron, as Leader of the Opposition, criticised it as a gimmick in response to the 2006 Queen's Speech.