On Monday 21 July 2014, MPs took part in a general debate on an e-petition, which had nearly 123,000 signatures, on making Eid and Diwali public holidays. In response, Jenny Willott MP stated that although she appreciates a new public holiday may benefit some communities and sectors, MPs had also raised the issue of the cost to the economy, which remains considerable. For example, the additional holiday for the diamond jubilee shows that bank holidays across the UK as a whole cost employers around £1.2 billion and although the costs are partially offset by increased revenues for businesses in the leisure and tourism sectors and a boost in retail spending, it is not expected that additional bank holidays for Eid and Diwali will result in increased tourism, therefore the cost figure would be higher for each bank holiday. In addition to the business cost, there is the unquantified operational impact from staff absences in health, local authority and transport services. Therefore, the Government do not believe there should be a public holiday to mark these two particular occasions. 

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