A NORTH Wales police boss is calling on the Prime Minister to make St David’s Day a public holiday.

According to North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones and Dafydd Llywelyn, his counterpart in Dyfed-Powys, it’s only right that the people of Wales should be allowed to celebrate the national day properly.

They are urging the UK Government to give the Welsh Assembly the power to introduce this holiday.

That would enable them to follow the precedent set in Scotland in 2006 when the Scottish Parliament designated 30 November, St Andrew’s Day, as a national holiday.

In Scotland though banks are not required to close and it is up to employers to decide whether to give staff the day off – if 30 November falls on a weekend the next Monday is a holiday instead.

Arfon Jones said: “St David’s Day is our national day and I believe that we should introduce it as a holiday to celebrate our status as a nation. It is something I feel very strongly about - we have had a meeting about how we can the distinctive Welsh identity of our police forces and this is a step we can take.

Celebrating St David’s Day with a public holiday would celebrate the fact that we are Welsh and that Wales is a country in its own right with its own distinctive identity and customs.

Many countries have national holidays – in the USA it is Independence Day and in France they have Bastille Day and Victory in Europe Day while in Spain Catalans celebrate their own national day on 11 September.

Just as in Scotland it would be at the discretion of employers but it would at the very least be a recognition and a celebration of our own national identity.”

Mr Jones and Mr Llywelyn are also planning to raise the matter at the next meeting of the four Police and Crime Commissioners in Wales.