The government is considering an extra bank holiday to celebrate an England victory as the World Cup final is set to take place next Sunday.
It is understood that Friday 24 July has been earmarked for a celebratory bank holiday if England wins the tournament 60 years after its first and only World Cup victory.
The prime minister appeared reticent to confirm a bank holiday when asked about the potential celebration at the Nato summit in Ankara, but he hinted it was on the cards.
The Arsenal fan told reporters on Wednesday: “I don’t want to jinx it, but ask me again if we get to the final.”
It comes a week after Andy Burnham, tipped to replace Sir Keir as prime minister, called speculation about a bank holiday if England win the World Cup “a bit premature”.
Following England’s difficult win against the Democratic Republic of Congo, he told Andrew Marr on LBC: “We do have to live in hope. I think, you know, it might be a bit premature to be speculating.
“It would be a fantastic moment, wouldn’t it, and we can hope and pray that. I’m an Evertonian, I do not ever back anything when it comes to football, I don’t do it with England either.”
This isn’t the first time a bank holiday has been suggested as a celebration for an English football victory as fans called for one after the Lionesses won the Euros last year. The women’s team were instead celebrated with an open-top bus parade through central London and a visit to Downing Street.
The Three Lions are getting closer and closer to the final following a nail-biting victory against Mexico on Monday, which means England will go head-to-head with Norway for the quarter-finals this Saturday.
The match this weekend is set to be a nerve-wracking affair as Harry Kane will go against Manchester City striker Erling Haaland for what is set to be a battle of the strikers – and a test for England’s defence.
Sir Keir hailed Monday’s win over Mexico as “one of the best England performances I’ve ever seen” and victory against Norway would take them a step closer to grasping the World Cup trophy.
England beat Mexico last Monday in a 3-2 match that saw the Three Lions play a man down after Jarell Quansah received a red card in the 54th minute. Jude Bellingham was lauded for scoring two goals in two minutes, becoming the first since Diego Maradona in 1986 to score twice in one game at the heralded Azteca stadium.
But the prime minister has resisted calls to attempt to overturn Quansah’s red card, after president Donald Trump persuaded Fifa to suspend US player Folarin Balogun’s suspension to allow him to play against Belgium.
He said: “I can’t tell you how many messages I’ve had to rescind the red card that we received in the early hours of Monday.
“I hasten to add, I haven’t attempted to do that.”
While the prime minister has been reluctant to get involved in Quansah’s red card issue, he is understood to have stepped in after Fifa attempted to move forward the England-Mexico fixture time.
A spokesperson said: “I’m not going to go into the internal processes behind it, but the prime minister has said that he was supportive of the representations made by the FA, and I think that’s on record that the FA have made representations about the scheduling change and the impact it would have potentially on the England team.
“But as I say, the final decision on that, the fixture timings remained a matter for Fifa.”
