The St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007 is an
Act of the Scottish Parliament
An Act of the Scottish Parliament ( gd, Achd Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) is primary legislation made by the Scottish Parliament. The power to create Acts was conferred to the Parliament by section 28 of the Scotland Act 1998 following the success ...
that officially designates
St. Andrew's Day (30 November) to be a
bank holiday in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
.
Background
The Bill that led to the Act being passed was first proposed by
Dennis Canavan
Dennis Andrew Canavan (born 8 August 1942) is a Scottish politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Falkirk West from 1974 to 2000 (known as West Stirlingshire from 1974 to 1983), first as a member of the Labour Party, and then as an I ...
, Independent
Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for
Falkirk West, in 2003. The first reading of the bill was rejected in 2005 by the
Scottish Parliament; at the time the
Scottish Executive was opposed to the idea of another bank holiday, and the Scottish Chambers of Commerce claimed that an extra holiday would cost the country £400 million in lost
productivity
Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proces ...
.
In May 2005, Samantha Mungall, Iain Scherr and Alexandra Gill - three first year students at Clyde Valley High - presented a petition before the Public Petitions Committee to make this a national holiday. Their petition was discussed and was accepted, and this propelled the bill along.
The Bill was sent back to the Scottish Parliament's Enterprise and Culture Committee, and was eventually supported by
Jack McConnell
Jack Wilson McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale, (born 30 June 1960) is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2001 to 2007. McConnell served as the Minister ...
, the then
First Minister
A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...
, after a compromise agreement was reached whereby the holiday would not be an additional entitlement. The First Minister stated that he believed that employers and employees should mark the day with a holiday, but that this should be as a substitute for an existing local holiday, rather than an additional one.
The Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 29 November 2006, and received
Royal Assent
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...
on 15 January 2007.
Provisions
The Act amends the
Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, an Act of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
which sets out the official bank holidays for
England and Wales
England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...
, Scotland and
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
.
The 1971 Act does not give employees the right to a day off work or require banks to close. However, the 1971 Act gives relief of obligation to make payments on days specified as bank holidays.
If St Andrew's Day is on a Saturday or Sunday, the next Monday is designated as the bank holiday.
Explanatory Notes to St. Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007 asp 2
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See also
* Bank holidays in Scotland
References
External links
Text of the Act
{{UK legislation
Acts of the Scottish Parliament 2007
Economy of Scotland
Scottish culture