May Day bank holiday to move to mark 75th anniversary of VE Day

The May Day bank holiday is to be moved back four days next year to coincide with the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

The national day off will be changed from its normal slot on the first Monday of the month to the Friday of that week, signalling the start of a three-day weekend of commemorative events.

Victory in Europe Day, when the Allies accepted the surrender of Nazi Germany in the Second World War, is marked on 8 May 1945.

The idea was welcomed by Sir Andrew Gregory, chief executive of SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, who described it as a “fitting” idea.

He said: “It is our duty to keep the events of the past alive in collective memory, including future generations – this is how we ensure that such a conflict never happens again.”

Mr Gregory asked people to take a moment “to reflect on the significance of this date, as a milestone that changed the course of history for the whole world.”

The move follows a week of events across the UK and France marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

VE Day will be marked in more than 20,000 pubs where drinkers will be encouraged to toast the heroes of the war while churches will take part in a Ringing Out For Peace.

The bank holiday will move in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but might not change in Scotland where bank holidays are overseen by the parliament at Holyrood.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said moving the bank holiday was a “right and fitting tribute”.

“VE Day marked an historic moment in not only our nation’s but the world’s history and it is important that we commemorate this great occasion on its 75th anniversary,” he said.

It is the second time the May Day bank holiday has been moved. In 1995, it was shifted from 1 May to 8 May to mark the 50th anniversary of VE Day.

(c) Sky News 2019: May Day bank holiday to move to mark 75th anniversary of VE Day