On 21st July, the House of Commons considered making Eid and Diwali public holidays following receipt of the largest e-petition received since their introduction (122,991 signatures). This back bench discussion, introduced by Bob Blackman (MP for Harrow East), looked at whether consideration should be given to whether, as a culturally diverse nation, we should start public holidays for non-Christian religions.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that the Centre for Economics and Business Research estimates that each public holiday costs £2.3 billion per day due to losses in retail, commercial, service and other industries, the government has decided against the introduction of two new public holidays and this proposal will not be pursued further.
