Wellingborough MP Peter Bone calls for new bank holiday

• Watch a video of MP Peter Bone introducing a new bank holiday Bill

The Wellingborough MP Peter Bone wants to give us a new bank holiday to celebrate Brexit, the Union and the Queen.

He's put forward a new bill calling for an extra bank holiday in June, called 'United Kingdom Day'. It would be on the closest Friday to June 23 which is the anniversary of the Brexit Referendum.

His proposed holiday could also mark the Queen’s birthday and coronation anniversary, both of which fall in June.

The Wellingborough MP said an extra day off would boost workers’ productivity as there is “a long gap” between the late May and the late August bank holidays in England, Scotland and Wales.

Introducing his June Bank Holiday (Creation) Bill, Mr Bone said Boris Johnson’s Government had been “quite sniffy” about his proposals.

To his detractors, Mr Bone said: 'If there are a handful of people who reject all these things, well of course, they can always work on United Kingdom Day.'

There are currently eight bank holidays a year in England and Wales, nine in Scotland and 10 in Northern Ireland.

The Bill was introduced without a vote, with a second reading scheduled for June 26, which Mr Bone said would happen to be United Kingdom Day if it existed.

It has little chance of making further progress in its current form without Government backing.