Why is there no bank holiday to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day? - Jayne Dowle

When Downing Street was asked why, a spokesman talked about an “important balance to be struck” … “given the impacts for businesses, services and the broader economy, which need to be taken into account.”

I’d have thought that businesses – from makers of bunting to pub landlords – would only have been too happy to have a celebratory occasion in these grim times, when war in Europe threatens us again.

‘May Day’ as all working-class historians know, commemorates International Workers' Day, a day of demonstrations and protests for better working conditions that started in the 19th century.

May Day’s roots however, lay centuries back in ancient Roman and Celtic rebirth and fertility celebrations to mark the beginning of spring. It became an official public holiday in 1978, under Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan.

Another Labour government mashing up ‘workers day’ with the 80th anniversary of VE Day seems rather peculiar to me, but as we know, the current Cabinet are not known for their deep understanding of the history of the labour movement.

I recall some consternation from left-wingers too, when five years ago, with the country still in Covid lockdown and strict social distancing rules in place, PM Boris Johnson stuck to the Conservative government’s plan to move the May Day Bank Holiday from Monday May 4 to Friday May 8, so a three-day weekend took in the actual VE Day anniversary date.

In my book, this was one thing Johnson actually did right, by allowing it to still happen. In our region, May Day is known for its rambunctious celebrations. But in the middle of lockdown, no-one was going to be out and about in the pubs anyway, raising a toast to our brave ancestors taking on their industrial overlords.

Instead, with an actual Bank Holiday to break up the tedium of working from home and home-schooling, people did actually stop and take stock. We held a 1940s-themed socially-distanced street party on our drive, with friends and neighbours bringing picnics and strictly observing the ‘two metre’ rule (I had a tape measure ready, should the police stop by), and bottles of sanitiser to hand.

It was touching; we hadn’t seen each other for weeks, we were all anxious about elderly parents stuck at home shielding, the kids were so pleased to see their friends. We took snaps that will remain as some of the few photographic memories of this challenging time.

But, as we all acknowledged, a few weeks' separation was nothing compared to what our parents and grandparents had endured during the Second World War. And of course, for some, the anguish did not end for months after VE Day.

VJ Day (Victory in Japan) is officially marked on August 15, when Japan publicly announced its surrender to the Allied powers following the devastating atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. There’s no Bank Holiday for that one either.

What is especially poignant is that 2025 marks the last ‘anniversary’ occasion when we can really honour the wartime generation whilst we are fortunate to still have some of their number amongst us. Even those, like my parents, born in 1943, who were only children during the Second World War are now in their 80s. Did the government not realise this?

Or do the apparatchiks at the Department for Culture, Media and Support prefer that we all stick to the government-appointed script? Downing Street rather huffily retorts that £10m has been set aside for VE Day celebrations, including a concert at Horse Guards Parade in central London, for veterans and community groups, including young people, a service at Westminster Abbey and a military flypast.

There’s a call for us all to hold jolly street parties on May 5, but this seems churlish somehow and is missing the point. Dates are important in history; but May 8 will be a normal day.

With just eight days of government-sanctioned days off in 2025, the UK already ranks at the very bottom of the European public holidays table.

Would it really have been too much of a stretch, especially with so little to celebrate right now, for Keir Starmer to have cheered us all up with an extra public holiday to mark such a significant occasion? Yet again, he has read the mood all wrong.