English call for St George’s Day holiday

Chris PolechonskiSenior Research Executive Digital, Media and Technology
April 23, 2013, 3:33 PM GMT+0

A majority of people in England think that St George’s Day should be a public holiday.

Today is St George’s Day – the feast day of the patron saint of England, as well as various other countries, cities and regions around the world. Unlike the Irish, who celebrate a national holiday on St Patrick’s Day, as do the Scots for St Andrew’s Day, there is currently not a bank holiday in England for St George’s Day.

A new YouGov/IPPR research poll carried out in England has found that two-thirds (66%) of people in England think that St George’s Day should be a public holiday. This is compared to only 11% who think it should not be a public holiday.

British, English or a bit of both?

When asked whether British or English best describes them people in England are more divided.

Nearly two-fifths (39%) regard themselves as ‘equally English and British’, closely followed by 35% who say they are ‘more English than British’ or ‘English not British’. This is in contrast to just 17% who say the opposite – that they are ‘more British than English’ or ‘British not English’.

However, the survey revealed that Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups are less likely to define themselves as English over British, with only 12% of BME respondents describing themselves as such. Forty-four per cent regard themselves as ‘more British than English’ or ‘British not English’, while a quarter (25%) say that they are ‘equally British and English’.

See the full poll results

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