Neath Port Talbot Council has agreed to create a report that will look into the potential of making St David's Day a holiday for council staff of the county.
This comes after Gwynedd council granted its workers a day off to celebrate St David's Day. Despite the UK Government rejecting the plans for a national bank holiday, the move was granted at a cabinet meeting in January.
Councillor Jamie Evans of Plaid Cymru revealed on Twitter on Wednesday that he would be asking the council "to follow the lead" of Gwynedd in making March 1 a "bank holiday" for council staff.
During the full council meeting, he said: "Gwnewch y pethau bychain, those were the words of our patron saint - do the little or small things.
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"To many, a day off from their employment, their work is a small thing but is something that we need from time to time.
"Wales is currently the only UK nation without the power to give our citizens a bank holiday. The courtesy has been extended to Scotland and Northern Ireland - they have their day off on the national day... England have decided not to give their citizens a day off on their national day.
"However, we don't have that option here in Wales yet. It was denied to us the end of last year and beginning of this year by the UK Tory government.
"I would like to ask the council if, following this decision by the British Government to refuse a bank holiday for Wales on St David's Day, will Neath Port Talbot Council consider following the examples seen by Gwynedd Council on the 18 January this year and create a de facto bank holiday for our council staff and to those carrying out essential services?"
Councillor Doreen Jones replied: "Ensuring our Welsh language and traditions can be enjoyed by future generations is a very important part of [our] commitment.
"I therefore have no difficulty at all considering what more we can do to celebrate St David's Day. On this subject, I would like to ask officers to provide a detail advice on the proposal to create a de facto bank holiday for council staff."
Later in the afternoon, Councillor Evans, who represents Neath South ward, announced that the council agreed to look into the proposal.
"Neath Port Talbot Council have agreed to create a report into making St David's Day a holiday for council staff," he said on Twitter after the meeting.
"And to lobbying the UK and Welsh Governments to get this power devolved to Wales!"
Wales is the only nation in the Union not to have the power to decide its own national holidays, with Scotland and Northern Ireland both choosing to make the days dedicated to their patron saints, St Andrew and St Patrick, bank holidays in recent years.
So far, Gwynedd Council and Aberystwyth town council have announced that they will give their staff a day off. Caerphilly council has announced that it is lobbying both the Welsh and UK Governments to make St David’s Day a bank holiday in Wales.
Despite the Welsh Government's calls to make the day a bank holiday, Paul Scully MP, the minister for small business, said too many people commute across the Welsh and English border to make it feasible.
In response to the Gwynedd Council’s request, Paul Scully wrote: "While we appreciate that the people of Wales want to celebrate their patron saint, more people work across the English/Welsh border than across the English/Scottish border.
"This closer degree of integration could cause greater business disruption. If we had separate bank holidays in England and Wales, the impact on both employees and businesses is difficult to predict."
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