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  • "
    rudolph_hucker wrote:
    ponderman wrote:
    Stopping overseas aid would also save £19 billion.
    likewise nuclear weapons that will never be used
    And all the wars,and clamping down on tax dodgers (benefit fraud for the elite,though it costs more) would save a few £ too."
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Bank holidays 'cost economy £18bn'

8:32am Monday 9th April 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013

An expert has called for a rethink over bank holidays in a bid to boost the economy An expert has called for a rethink over bank holidays in a bid to boost the economy

Scrapping public holidays could add £18 billion to the nation's annual economic output, according to a think-tank.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research said each bank holiday costs the United Kingdom economy in the region of £2 billion.

There are nine public holidays in England this year with slight variations in the rest of the UK.

There are five holidays between Easter and June taking in the extra holiday for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Douglas McWilliams, of the Centre for Economics and Business Research, told BBC Breakfast: "We have done some maths on this and about 45% of the economy suffers, the offices, the factories, the building sites where people tend not to go to work on Bank Holiday.

"About 15% of the economy, shops, pubs, clubs, restaurants, cafes and visitor attractions, they actually do well out of the Bank Holiday, it's a mixed thing."

He said it does not balance out across the sectors.

"The areas that have lost productivity are about three times bigger than the areas that benefit," he added.

Mr McWilliams said he was not advocating scrapping the holidays but spreading them out.

"I think people would enjoy them a lot more," he said.

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