Number 10 gives verdict on if there will be an extra bank holiday next year

Downing Street have denied claims there will be an extra bank holiday next year to commemorate the 80^th anniversary of the end of World War II.

There had been suggestions that Brits could have been set to enjoy an extra bank holiday next year, with a four-day weekend allegedly planned for the summer to commemorate the Golden Generation.

The rumoured bank holiday was believed to have been planned for either May 8, the anniversary of VE Day, or August 15, 80 years since the day Japan officially surrendered.

A four-day weekend was suggested to allow Brits to thank war veterans on what could have been the last anniversary that some of them would be alive to see.

However, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman has today confirmed that there will be no ‘extra bank holiday’ in the UK next summer.

He said: ‘The 80th anniversaries of VE and VJ Day will be moments of huge significance for our country where we will come together to honour the memory of those who served, the legacy they left behind and what we owed them.

‘We are committed to commemorating these nationally important occasions appropriately, which is we have announced more than £10 million for events to mark them.

‘These plans do not include an additional bank holiday but we will look to use the existing early May bank holiday for commemorative events.’

He too confirmed that there will not be two extra days off to celebrate the Golden Generation.

There had been much excitement amongst the British public about the prospect of a few extra days off work following reports.

War veterans too expressed their delight at the fact that Brits were set to celebrate ‘those who gave their lives for our freedom and peace in Europe.’

Geoff Roberts, a 99-year-old veteran who was captured in the airborne assault on Arnhem in 1944, told The Express: ‘I think it’s very important in these current times we remember those that gave their lives for our freedom and peace.

‘We should never forget them. Maybe an extra bank holiday will help to remind people about what’s happened in the past.’

In recent years, Brits have enjoyed extra bank holidays to allow for celebrations to take place on more than one occasion.

Four fantastic days in June 2022 saw the country toast Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, 70 years after her accession to the throne.

The day of the Queen’s funeral was also marked with a bank holiday on Monday September 19^th 2022.

And the coronation of King Charles was too celebrated with a bank holiday, this time on May 8, 2023.

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