英國擬將勞動節挪至十月

英國政府考慮把法定假日“五一勞動節”挪到10月，並更名爲“英國節”或“特拉法爾加節”，以促進旅遊業。負責旅遊事務的部長官員說，新節日設在秋天，不僅能促進旅遊業發展，還能讓我們所有人專注於慶祝這個國家所取得的偉大成就。據悉，這一設想是即將出臺的英國旅遊業發展戰略一部分，政府將就是否以及如何更改“五一節”展開協商。如果協商通過，也要到2013年纔會生效。

英國在1978年由當時執政的工黨確定“五一節”爲法定假日，人們在這一天舉行遊園會，唱歌跳舞，慶祝夏天來臨。

The British government said Saturday it was considering moving the May Day public holiday to October, in a move that would delight the tourism industry but which unions say is an attack on international labour day.

Many countries across the world, from France to China, have a public holiday on May 1, often to commemorate the fight for more workers' rights.

In Britain, the holiday was introduced in 1978 by a Labour government. But celebrating May Day with traditional dancing and festivities dates back centuries and also marks the coming of summer.

The coalition now plans to consult on scrapping the May holiday and moving it to October, possibly with the new name of "UK Day" or "Trafalgar Day".

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said moving the day off would better spread the public holidays across the year and be a boost to the tourism industry.

"An autumn bank holiday, possibly to be branded as a new 'UK Day', would not only help the industry, but also give us all a new focus for celebrating the best of what this country does," said Tourism Minister John Penrose.

He added that any change would be subject to consultation. The proposals are to be contained in a forthcoming tourism strategy and the holiday would not be moved until 2013.

But the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said that some Conservative MPs were not keen on May Day because of its links to international labour day.

"A few Tory backwoodsmen have a bee in their bonnet about the May Day bank holiday because of its association with international labour day," said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.

"In fact, May Day is a traditional British celebration dating back to the fourth century."

Government sources however denied the proposal had any sort of political dimension and said it was solely in support of their tourism strategy.