Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to make St George’s Day a new national holiday to reward workers for “Tory austerity”.
The Labour leader has said there should be four new bank holidays for the whole of the UK to celebrate each nation’s patron saint.
In a speech on Monday, Corbyn will say: “Our values of a fair and inclusive society are our country’s best values.
“And those shared values will be celebrated by making St George’s Day a national holiday.”
He will add: “Eight years of Tory austerity, which Labour will bring to an end, have had a disastrous effect on our vital public services and workers have paid a heavy price in the cost of living and their working lives.”
Labour has said it will create bank UK-wide holidays on St David’s Day (1st March), St Patrick’s Day (17th March), St George’s Day (23rd April) and St Andrew’s Day (30th November).
Speaking to the Communication Workers Union conference in Bournemouth, Corbyn will accuse the government of making the four nations of the UK “more divided as a result of the damaging and divisive policies”.
Corbyn will also address the Windrush scandal that has seen migrants wrongly threatened with deportation.
“So let me say to the Windrush generation and to everyone who has come to this country to make a contribution: You are welcome. You have equal rights and under Labour you will never be treated like second class citizens,” he will say.
“We will never allow people to be divided on the basis of race or religion. As the message of our movement has it ‘unity is strength’.”
Labour has called on Home Secretary Amber Rudd to resign over the handling of the crisis.