Kemi Badenoch has revealed whether she would support calls for a bank holiday if England win the World Cup.
Thomas Tuchel’s side beat Mexico on Monday morning to reach the quarter-finals of the competition, where they will face Norway on Saturday.
When asked if she would support a bank holiday, the Conservative leader said she probably would not, before saying he “private sector would still be working and the public sector would take the day off”.
Responding to the question at a Politics UK event, Ms Badenoch said: “Probably not, still.
“Sadly, we all know what would happen with a bank holiday – the private sector would still be working and the public sector would take the day off, and you’d all have to pay for it.
“This Conservative Party is very much about common sense. Party hard but work hard too, that is my motto.”
Ms Badenoch also revealed she did not stay up to watch the Mexico game.
She added that if she had done so, she would “probably be asleep right now”.
Asked whether she regretted not staying up, she said: “No, no, no. I woke up, my son had been up at five watching it on catch-up and he’s so, so excited… by the time I was up, he was just over the moon.
“But I wasn’t going to stay up to 1am because if I did, then I wouldn’t be here, I’d probably be asleep right now, and I wouldn’t want all of you to be disappointed.
“But it’s a fantastic result.
“I was a bit worried that Mexico on their home turf would be quite tough to beat, so no, I think we can go all the way.”
On Monday, it emerged that Sir Keir Starmer intervened to prevent Fifa from bringing forward England’s kick-off time amid concerns the change could give World Cup hosts Mexico an unfair advantage.
The prime minister acted after the Football Association alerted Downing Street that the proposed change – to avoid lightning storms – would give the Three Lions less time to adapt to the high altitude of the Azteca Stadium.
Sir Keir acted through diplomatic channels to ensure Tuchel’s team had sufficient time to prepare.
