What would be the benefits of establishing a St Andrews Day Bank Holiday in Scotland?
Scotland, along with England and Wales, has the lowest number of public holidays in the EU with a figure of only 8 whereas the maximum is 15 days and the average is 12 days. Introducing a new bank holiday helps bring Scotland closer to the EU average. This would have benefits to employees who already suffer from some of the longest working hours in Europe. 2. What are the problems, if any, that might arise from establishing a St Andrew’s Day Bank Holiday in Scotland? There may be some opposition from businesses to establishing this holiday in Scotland either through a complaint about loss of competitive advantage or through having different bank holidays than the rest of the UK. However as this would be a national holiday and the majority of companies in Scotland would be expected to participate this would limit any fears of a loss of competitive advantage. Also there are already different bank holidays across the UK – with Northern Ireland actually having two more bank holidays than e
