READERS have voted overwhelmingly in favour of St David’s Day being a national holiday in Wales.

The Cambrian News posed the question on Monday whether 1 March should be a bank holiday as we celebrate the patron saint of Wales.

84.9 per cent of those voted on Twitter were in favour of a bank holiday on 1 March, with 15.1 per cent against the idea.

Posing the same question on our website drew an ever more emphatic result with 92 per cent in favour of a bank holiday to celebrate Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant.

The Liberal Democrats in Wales have also today called for a public holiday on 1 March and called on other political parties to back Bill they have put to parliament that would allow the Senedd in Cardiff Bay to designate the day as such.

The Bill introduced by former Welsh Assembly Member for North Wales, Baroness Christine Humphreys, would devolve the power to create Bank Holidays to the Senedd.

This is a power that is already held by Scotland allowing St Andrew’s Day. The UK Government has also already declared St Patrick’s Day in Northern Ireland to be a designated bank holiday.

As well as the Liberal Democrats, Welsh Labour, the Welsh Conservatives and Plaid Cymru all support St David’s Day becoming a bank holiday, but the move has been continuously blocked by the UK Conservative Government.

Commenting Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said: “Making St David’s Day a bank holiday has widespread support amongst the Welsh public as repeated polls have shown.

“Unfortunately the Conservatives in the UK Government have repeatedly denied making this a reality, despite Welsh Conservatives disagreeing with them on the issue.

“So now we have started the process to give the Senedd the power to do it ourselves and I urge representatives from all other parties in Wales to back this Bill.”

The move comes following the news that staff at Gwynedd Council were not given the day off this year as they were in 2022, with the council leader criticising the UK Government’s “insulting” response to a bank holiday request.

Last year, Cyngor Gwynedd’s council cabinet declared 1 March as a day off, to mark the celebration of Wales’s patron saint.

In a statement Cyngor Gwynedd’s Plaid Cymru leader, Cllr Dyfrig Siencyn, said: “You may remember last year we gave our staff a bank holiday to celebrate our national patron saint day, Gŵyl Ddewi, as other nations do. Our action received considerable support from county councils across Wales, from the Welsh Government and even from the Welsh Tories.

“Like many other issues, Wales does not have the right to designate bank holidays and it seems that we are not responsible enough to do so. We must go, cap in hand, to ask permission from our masters in London.

“The response received from Westminster last year was insulting, claiming that it would be too complicated for people working across the border to cope with a Welsh bank holiday and that it would have huge cost implications.

“Westminster is able to grant two special bank holidays to crown the King of England without any consideration of cost. This is yet another example of the insulting and pretentious attitude of our Tory masters in London and the way in which they deal with the people of Wales – with complete lack of respect for our nation.”