Britons Won't Get A Bank Holiday For Prince Harry And Meghan Markle's We...

Britons Won't Get A Bank Holiday For Prince Harry And Meghan Markle's Wedding

Britons won't get a day off work when Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle next spring, after Downing Street confirmed there are no plans to give the country an extra bank holiday.

The nation enjoyed a bank holiday when William married Kate in 2011 – giving us two four-day weekends in a row – and many people were hoping that another royal wedding would mean another day off work.

However, the prime minister's official spokesman said on Monday afternoon: "There are no plans for a bank holiday."

He pointed to both Prince Andrew's wedding to Sarah Ferguson in 1986, and Prince Edward's wedding to Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999 – when there were no corresponding bank holidays. "There isn't a precedent in this area," he said.

The royal engagement overshadowed the launch of the government's big industrial strategy aimed at boosting economic productivity – something which would probably be undermined by giving most of the country extra time off.

In an incredibly unfortunate stroke of bad timing for business secretary Greg Clark, his announcement clashed with one from Clarence House.

He'd been on the airwaves talking about his industrial strategy and how it would tackle the UK's weak productivity, revealed in the Budget last week.

The Office of Budget Responsibility downgraded its forecasts for the UK economy last week because the amount of money generated per worker per hour is not going up by the amount expected.

Clark insisted that the industrial strategy would get us back on the right track. "Britain's productivity performance has not been good enough, and is holding back our earning power as a country," he said.

"So this industrial strategy deliberately strengthens the five foundations of productivity: ideas, people, infrastructure, business environment and places."

Well, it was a good try anyway. Or as one Tory MP put it:

Sorry Greg, turns out today’s Industrial Strategy announcement might get bumped from the news