Starmer hints at extra bank holiday if England win World Cup

Keir Starmer has signalled that England could get an extra bank holiday if Thomas Tuchel’s side wins the 2026 FIFA World Cup, putting a one-day national pause back on the political table just as the team enters the quarter-finals. The prime minister said he did not want to “jinx it” and told reporters to “ask me again if we get to the final.”

England will face Norway in the quarter-finals on Saturday, with the final scheduled for Sunday 19 July 2026. A victory would give England their first World Cup title since 1966 and almost certainly trigger a fresh debate inside government about whether to reward the team with a nationwide day off.

The idea would not be without precedent. The UK government granted an extra bank holiday for the coronation of King Charles III on Monday 8 May 2023, and another for Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral on Monday 19 September 2022. Any England victory holiday could fall on Friday 24 July 2026, a date that would give the squad time to return after the final and create a long weekend for supporters.

The timing would also carry political weight. The discussion has already been framed around the possibility that it could be one of Starmer’s final acts in office, depending on when he leaves and whether a political transition follows the tournament. That gives the gesture more than ceremonial value: it would test how far ministers are willing to use a sporting triumph to project national unity and public morale.

England’s only World Cup title came on 30 July 1966, when they beat West Germany 4-2 after extra time at Wembley Stadium. Geoff Hurst scored a hat-trick in that final, a feat still central to England’s football memory nearly 60 years later. A fresh bank holiday would be a symbolic reward for ending that wait, but it would also mean an unscheduled break for employers, schools and public services across the country.