The UK government owes Wales an apology for its hugely insulting, historically illiterate response to more than 10,000 people who signed a petition calling for St David's Day to be made a bank holiday here.
Their response, which they were obliged to make because 12,000 people signed the petition on the UK Parliament's website, effectively seems to say that Wales isn't a proper nation. It's hard to know how else to interpret their justification that Scotland's history, culture and society merits having their own bank holiday whereas Wales' history, culture and society doesn't.
The petition had read: “ St David's Day has always been a significant day in Cymru/Wales, and has been used to celebrate everything Welsh. It's time to make this special day a bank holiday in Wales, just like Scotland has St Andrew's Day, and Ireland has St Partick's Day as bank holidays”.
It's not as if these 12,000 people are massively out of touch with Welsh public opinion. Even the leader of the Welsh Conservatives called on the UK Government (which is ultimately the authority for deciding these things) for St David’s Day to be given the same standing as St Andrew’s Day in their respective nations. But the UK government's response was basically, no, you're wrong.
It said: “We appreciate the sentiment behind this request; however, the Government has no current plans to change the well-established and accepted arrangements for bank holidays in Wales.
“The decisions to create bank holidays for St Andrew's Day, and St Patrick's Day have been developed against a backdrop of different histories, economic, social, cultural and legal systems. Different factors require separate considerations.
“Although an additional bank holiday may benefit some communities and sectors, the cost to the economy of an additional bank holiday remains considerable. The latest analysis estimates the cost for a one-off bank holiday (across the whole of the UK) to be around £2bn.
“The Government regularly receives requests for additional bank and public holidays to celebrate a variety of occasions. However, the current pattern of bank holidays is well established and accepted. The Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 provides the basis for UK bank holidays each year and contains provisions for appointing additional or substitute days. Additional bank holidays, including those created after 1971, and some substitute days (for example when bank holidays fall at a weekend) are appointed by Royal proclamation.”
Hmmmm OK… Skipping past the patronising start "we appreciate the sentiment", Let’s take this paragraph: “The decisions to create bank holidays for St Andrew's Day, and St Patrick's Day have been developed against a backdrop of different histories, economic, social, cultural and legal systems. Different factors require separate considerations”.
This idea that Wales is somehow different from Scotland (we can talk about NI in a bit) speaks volumes about how the UK government perceives Wales and its traditions. The idea that there is no historic, social or cultural case for St David's Day to be a bank holiday would certainly be news to the people in Wales who have celebrated St David's Day on March 1 for their entire lives, as their parents and grandparents did before them.
It is not just insulting; it is also historically illiterate bunkum. You can substitute other letters beginning with b if you prefer. The first Tudor king of England, Henry VII, who was born in Wales, celebrated St David's Day with his royal court every year. His grandfather had been Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudur - a Welshman from one of the most prominent families in medieval Wales.
Henry VII's St David's Day celebrations are described in a fascinating piece on The Conversation which goes on to say that although there may be little evidence of the celebration of St David in the centuries that followed, there is plenty of evidence of how people who left Wales clearly treasured St David's Day.
In 1715, a group of London Welshmen calling themselves the Most Honourable and Loyal Society of Ancient Britons organised an annual St David's Day Dinner. Their group grew into the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion which continues to this day. There's also evidence of St David's Day celebrations in expat Welsh communities in Ireland and Philadelphia. By the 19th Century, there is again evidence of widespread St David's Day celebrations in Wales.
Given there is evidence of St David's Day being celebrated in Welsh communities for centuries, it's hard to see the response of Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as being anything other than a blinkered articulation of the same repressive denialism that has gripped elements of the Conservative Party for centuries.
Wales may have shared the same laws and institutions as England for centuries but it doesn't mean that Wales ever ceased to be Wales. And yet for centuries people who wanted Wales' distinct culture, traditions and language to be recognised have had to face an official culture at Westminster that just wants to stick its fingers in its ears and yell 'not listening, not listening, not listening'.
It's the same culture that led to this passage in the Conservative Party election guide between 1892 and 1914: “The laws, institutions and customs of Wales are the law institutions and customs of England. The crown of England is the crown of Wales. The flag of Wales is the flag of England. To deal with one corner of the country separately in relation to large constitution questions…would be to introduce a system of parochialism in national affairs which would soon lead to the remarkable anomalies and undermine the fabric of uniform and orderly government throughout the country”.
You can see statements like these as evidence of a repressive official attitude to Wales; you can also see it as evidence that these were issues being so widely discussed in Wales by the Welsh that the Tories needed an official line to guide their candidates'. Either way, they in no way justify the response by the department for business to the St David's Day petition.
The idea that there is no cultural, social or historic case for a St David's Day bank holiday is a lazy Westminster myth that has underpinned attitudes to Wales for too long. It is the same culture that ultimately believes Wales is just part of England which led the UK Government to define HS2 as England and Wales as a cost saving measure, despite no track being laid in Wales and Scotland probably benefits more than Wales (you can read about how this decision shafted Wales here).
This is evident in so many ways. Scotland and Northern Ireland have control over justice and policing but Wales doesn’t. Why? Because different factors require separate considerations. Wales’s railways are creaking while England’s rail network gets record investment and the Scots get a massive windfall (about 2% of Wales’ railways are electrified compared to 41% in England and 25% in Scotland). Why can they do this? Why is Wales getting uniquely shafted?
At a time the UK Government is pushing to promote the union, rhetoric like this demonstrates why the Union is in such trouble. In the age of identity, the Union only survives when the competent parts of it are treated with respect and equality. There is no reason why people who support the union should not also want a bank holiday to celebrate the patron saint of Wales. Yet by denying the evidence cultural, social and historic reasons for that, the UK government leads people leads people to conclude there is only one way their sense of national identity will ever be recognised.
It is time Wales was treated for what it is. An equal partner in a union of four nations. Not an afterthought to be taken for granted.
Before dismounting from my high horse I should add that it is absolutely worth considering the economic implications of a bank holiday in Wales. In fact, WalesOnline have done just that. You can read it here. You can also sign the St David's Day petition here.
