Public Holiday on Muslims religious occasions in the UK(Eid ul Fitr&Eid ul Adha)
- Parliament:
- 2017–19
- Signatures:
- 52,451
- Responded:
- 26 Jun 2018
The petition
Public Holiday on Muslims special two religious occasions in a year: 1. Eid ul-Fitr and 2. Eid ul-Adha. This will give an opportunity for Muslim families to get together and share happiness with other religious communities. It is very important for Muslims to celebrate EID.
Islam is the second largest religion in the United Kingdom, with results from the United Kingdom Census 2011 giving the UK Muslim population in 2011 as 2,786,635, (2.7 million ) 4.8% of the total population. The vast majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom live in England: 2,660,116 (5.02% of the population). Muslims don't get a lawful Public Holiday on their two special religious occasions in a year 1. Eid ul-Fitr and 2. Eid ul-Adha.
The government's response
The Government has no plans to create a public holiday to commemorate religious festivals such as Eid. The costs would be considerable. The cost of the 2012 Diamond Jubilee holiday was around £1.2bn.
The Government is committed to bringing people together in strong, united communities. We encourage and support people to have shared aspirations, values and experiences. Festivals such as Eid contribute towards this objective. We regret however that we cannot agree to create new bank or public holidays to mark this festival.
The Government regularly receives requests for additional bank and public holidays to celebrate a variety of occasions including religious festivals. However the current pattern is well established and accepted,
Whilst an additional bank holiday may benefit some communities and sectors, the cost to the economy of an additional bank holiday remains considerable. The most recent estimate following an Impact Assessment (IA) for the additional holiday for the Diamond Jubilee is that a bank holiday (across the UK as a whole) costs employers around £1.2bn.
Workers in the UK are entitled to 28 days holiday each year. Workers are under no legal obligation to grant a religious-based request for time off. However Government's policy is to encourage employers to respond flexibly and sympathetically to any requests for leave, including requests for religious holidays, bearing in mind business needs. Acas provides detailed guidance for employers about religious festivals and holy days on its website.
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Highlighted: the sentence the model picked as the strongest evidence cited.
Debate
Debated in Parliament on 29 Oct 2018. This is shown for context and is not part of the assessment.
Of 4 MPs who spoke in their own right, 2 were for the petition, 1 neutral and 1 against. The government's response: declines.
- For
- Neutral
- Against