A KENT MP has added his voice to calls on the Government to introduce a brand new bank holiday in Britain.

More than one million workers in the UK believe it is time they were allocated one more lie-in a year to correspond with longer working hours and to bring the nation in line with its European neighbours.

Now South Thanet MP Steve Ladyman is backing fellow Labour MP Shona McIsaac as she prepares to introduce a ten minute rule bill to Parliament this week, asking the Government to create an extra bank holiday.

Dr Ladyman said: "I'd like us to have an extra day in the autumn or early winter, preferably on the Monday after Remembrance Day, and call it Nation Day.

”Remembrance Day is there to remind us of the sacrifices made by people who died for our nation and our freedom; it is the day we can remember those heroes.

“Nation Day could be the day we forget our differences and celebrate what it is that makes our nation special; it would be the day we remember why those heroes made the sacrifices they did."

Britain currently has eight public holidays - well below the European average - but works longer hours on average than the continent. Despite several high profile campaigns in the last 10 years, the UK has not had a new bank holiday introduced since 1978.

Online petitions supporting the latest calls to give workers an extra day at home have already been signed by more than one million people.

Shona McIsaac, MP for Cleethorpes, said the number of British public holidays had not caught up with changes in working habits, and people should be given more time to spend with their families and communities.

She said: "An extra bank holiday is not simply a day off - it's a day to share with everyone else in the country, however you choose to spend it.

“Current bank holidays have traditional, historic and religious significance - what we need now is a day that defines what we want Britain to mean now. This would be a day for future generations to celebrate."