Tony Blair has said he will give "careful consideration" to calls for a public holiday should England reach the World Cup Final.

Former Sports Minister Tony Banks says the UK should be given the day off a week on Monday, in order to celebrate or commisserate after the final the day before.

We will all either be celebrating or commiserating ourselves into the early hours

Tony Banks

The Labour MP raised the idea at Prime Minister's Question Time, where he was told by a laughing Mr Blair: "Let us just get over the hurdle of beating Brazil on Friday, shall we?"

Mr Banks said reaching the world cup finals would be an event of "great national importance".

Scottish backing

Earlier, he tabled a Commons motion congratulating England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson and his team on their progress so far.

Tony Banks: Commons motion

The motion was backed by Scottish MPs James Wray, David Hamilton, Jim Sheridan, Iain Luke and Irene Adams.

But it is not clear how their support will go down in Scotland, where calls for fans to get behind England have largely fallen on deaf ears.

England play Brazil in the quarter-finals of the competition on Friday morning.

If they win they will meet Senegal or Turkey in the semi-finals, leaving them one step away from the final a week on Sunday.

'Trouble getting off work'

Speaking earlier, Mr Banks said: "I think that, given the fact that the President of Senegal gave a public holiday for that country getting into the quarter-finals, a holiday for reaching the final is not too much to ask.

"It seems to me we will all either be celebrating or commiserating ourselves into the early hours that night, and it would be good for everyone to know they have the day off in the morning.

"A lot of people have already contacted me saying they are finding it difficult to get time off work for England's match with Brazil on Friday, some of whom say they have been threatened with the sack."

Mr Blair should declare the holiday in advance of the match, as it will be too late to do anything once it has taken place, Mr Banks said.

He said he was sure Scottish, Welsh and Irish soccer fans would want to share in England's celebrations.