MAKING St David's Day a bank holiday would mean children would "flop down on the sofa with a PlayStation" instead of learning about Welsh history.

That is the view of one Gwent MP who we spoke to ahead of the big day.

With St. David’s Day tomorrow, we’ve asked Newport locals about whether St David’s Day should become a bank holiday.

St David’s Day, also known as the “feast day of St David”, annually falls on March 1 and commemorates the patron saint of Wales.

Calls for a bank holiday have been heard elsewhere in Wales.

In October 2021, Gwynedd Council called on the UK Government to consider recognising St David's day as a day of national celebration and to devolve powers over bank holidays. The government rejected both, but in February 2022, an e-petition supporting the proposal exceeded 10,000 signatures.

Should St David's Day be a bank holiday in Wales?

In Newport city centre this week, a city resident Roger Dere said he favoured a bank holiday.

South Wales Argus:

“I would say, definitely, it’s an integral part of Wales,” he said.

“It has been well established for 100s of years, so it should definitely be a bank holiday”.

An elderly couple also agreed and said: “I think we should. Why not? We should celebrate St David’s Day.”

When asked about what it means to then, they added: “When I was in school, we always celebrated St David’s Day, we always had our leeks and our daffodils, and we used to have a half day off from school.”

Share your St David's Day photos with the Argus. 

The Argus also contacted local politicians for their thoughts.

Newport MS Jayne Bryant said: "For many years there have been significant calls for St David’s Day to be a bank holiday in Wales.  This is something I fully support like so many other people in Newport West.

"It’s disappointing that the Senedd doesn’t have the power to make this happen – unlike Scotland which in 2007 after a public consultation, voted to make St Andrew’s Day a public holiday.  Strangely the power still rests with the UK Government on this.  The Welsh Government have repeatedly requested that the UK Government listens to the people of Wales and make St David’s Day a bank holiday.  It’s about time it happened.”

Fellow Labour MS Hefin David, who represents Caerphilly, agreed. He said that “ it would be lovely” if St David’s Day would become a bank holiday with many other politicians in favour.

John Griffiths, Newport East, MS said a St David’s Day bank holiday “would enable and encourage bigger and better national celebrations across the country for people to enjoy - these are event which our local communities could organise”.

He added: “I also feel it would reflect the growing sense of Welsh identity and compliment the work our Welsh Parliament is doing in this space.”

Alun Davies, MS for Blaeneau Gwent, blamed the Conservatives for the lack of a holiday.

He said: “It’s a real contempt. But then we know that the Tories simply don’t care about Wales."

Peredur Owen Griffiths, Plaid MS for South Wales East, said: “A national bank holiday for our country would allow us to celebrate Wales’ Patron Saint and be proud of our Welshness.

“Neighbouring countries – such as Ireland and Scotland – already have right to celebrate their Patron Saint with a day off.

“In Wales and England we already have the lowest number of bank holidays in Western Europe so it’s not as if we are blessed with more free time than other nations.

"We should have the right to decide when to have a bank holiday. For it to be denied to us by an official sitting hundreds of miles away, with little or no connection to Wales, leaves a bad taste in the mouth of many people.”

Natasha Asghar, Conservative MS for South East Wales, said:  “St David’s Day is one of the biggest days in the diary for Wales and I am a firm believer that 1st March should be a Bank Holiday so people can come together and celebrate all that is great about our country.

“The cultural and economic benefits of making St David’s Day a public holiday would be huge and I implore my Conservative colleagues in Westminster to seriously look at making it happen.”

However, David Davies, MP for Monmouth, and Secretary of State for Wales, said the issue benefitted his children as he “much rather they were celebrating Welsh culture [in school than] flop down on a sofa and mess around with the PlayStation”.

How would you feel about St David’s Day becoming a Bank Holiday? Tell us in the comments.