UK Parliament home

This petition was submitted during the 2015 to 2017 Parliament

View other petitions from this Parliament

Closed Introduce a UK National Day to celebrate our United Kingdom.

Closed on

The United Kingdom is one of the only countries in the world without a national day to celebrate the country.

This could be held annually on the May Day Bank Holiday and used to mark the anniversary of the Acts of Union which created our United Kingdom on the 1st of May, 1707.

10,221 signatures

Show on a map

100,000

Petition progress

View all updates for this petition, with the most recent first.

  • Government responded to this petition

    Government currently has no plans to create a UK national day. There are existing national days of celebration and other traditions that provide a focus for National celebrations.

    Read the response in full

    The UK currently has no unique national day. However, there are a number of days of celebration, and others, which are associated with celebrating the constituent countries of Britain and their traditions.

    Existing days of celebration include, St George's Day in England, St Andrew's Day in Scotland, St David's Day in Wales and St Patrick's Day in Northern Ireland.

    Over the years there have been various suggestions from the public for days of celebration and new bank holidays, however the current pattern is well established and accepted.

    Although, it has been celebrated since ancient times in many locations throughout the UK, the early May Day bank holiday has only been in existence in the UK since legislation was passed in 1978. More recently it has been associated with workers’ rights groups who choose to march or protest on this day to raise awareness of their causes.

    Department for Culture, Media and Sport

  • Petition closed

  • Government will respond to this petition

    This petition got more than 10,000 signatures meaning that government will respond to it.

  • Petition published

    This petition can now be signed.

    If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.

    If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

    This petition will stay open until 20 January 2016.