Employers should consider holiday if England win Euros as Boris faces pressure for Bank Holiday

More than 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for Monday to be designated a bank holiday if England beat Italy in Sunday’s final.

Employers should consider allowing workers to come in late or take the day off if England win the Euros, a Downing Street spokesperson has said.

Boris Johnson has refused to rule out the prospect of an emergency bank holiday should England win Euro 2020 on Sunday.

The Prime Minister has come under pressure to consider a one-off day off in the event of the Three Lions winning the tournament after defeating Denmark 2-1 at Wembley on Wednesday night.

Asked during a visit to energy company Bulb’s central London headquarters on Thursday about the prospect of a bank holiday if England beat Italy in the final, Mr Johnson said: “I think that would be tempting fate; let’s see what happens.”

Calls to have Monday off have intensified, with more than 100,000 signatures on a petition hosted on the Parliament website

Fans watching England v Denmark
PA Wire

It 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.”

Euro 2020: England fans celebrate their historic semi-final victory over Denmark

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Downing Street has said it will set out any celebrations such as a victory parade for the England team “in due course”.

The Prime Minister’s official 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.”

They added that businesses who are able to give employees time off on Monday should consider doing so in an event o a win.

“We would want businesses who feel able to consider it if they can but we recognise it will vary depending on the business and company,” the spokesperson said.

The match will be over by 10pm if it is settled in normal time.

However, the prospect of extra time and a penalty shoot-out mean the game could finish closer to 11pm.

Mr Johnson has already said pubs can stay open until 11.15pm this Sunday to reduce the risk of customers being told to leave before the match ends.

Wednesday’s victory over Denmark went to extra time and finished at around 10.45pm.

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