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Welsh secretary backs St David's Day bank holiday

Getty Images St David's Day Getty Images
Requests for St David's Day to be made a public holiday have been rejected by the UK government

The Secretary of State for Wales has said he is in favour of making St David's Day a bank holiday in Wales.

Sir Robert Buckland said another bank holiday should be scrapped in order to make room for the 1 March celebration.

Previous attempts to make St David's Day a bank holiday have been denied by the Conservative UK government.

Wales is the only UK nation not to have the power to decide its own national holidays.

St Andrew's Day is an annual bank holiday in Scotland, as is St Patrick's Day in Northern Ireland.

Sir Robert told S4C's Y Byd yn ei Le programme: "My personal view would be get rid of May Day, and have St David's Day as our bank holiday, and it would be a nice quid pro quo."

The Conservative MP, who is originally from Llanelli, said it was for others to decide whether such a change in the calendar should go ahead.

Reuters Sir Robert BucklandReuters
Sir Robert Buckland has said to get rid of the May bank holiday, May Day, also known as International Worker's Day

May Day, has been a bank holiday in the UK since 1978.

Sir Robert was first appointed to the post in the final stages of Boris Johnson's premiership and has returned his position in Liz Truss's cabinet.