A petition calling for England to be given an extra Bank Holiday to celebrate, should England win Euro 2020, has now surpassed 300,000 signatures.
Set up by ecstatic football fan Lee Jones on Thursday 8th July, the petition reads:
“Sunday 8pm is a difficult time for families to plan to be together for the event – knowing we have an additional day off the next day would significantly help this.
“Furthermore, a historic win should be celebrated. It would be expected for the winning team to parade the trophy, and a bank holiday would be a perfect time to do this. Also, English people would naturally want to continue to enjoy the win, giving the retail and leisure industry a much-needed opportunity to make up lost revenues.”
Thousands of people from Leeds have voted for the holiday, according to this map.
Reportedly, Boris Johnson has said he will ‘see what happens on Sunday’ before making any decision regarding a new Bank Holiday.
But it certainly seems like England fans are on board – with the petition at 331,585 signatures at the time of writing.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “I don’t want to pre-empt the outcome of Sunday’s match. Clearly we want England to go all the way and win the final and then we will set out our plans in due course.
“We will hopefully, when England go on to win, then go on to set out our plans.”
Plans to increase the number of fans at Wembley have been ruled out by the government, but licensing rules around drinking late in pubs have been relaxed to account for extra time and penalties.
It’s also been rumored that some knighthoods may be on the cards for the team, with Boris Johnson hinting to broadcasters that Gareth Southgate could be next., telling broadcasters:
“I obviously wouldn’t want to anticipate anything that the honours people may decide.
“But clearly I think Gareth Southgate has done an absolutely outstanding job.
“So best of luck for Sunday.”
You can find the petition here.
