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Thomas Cook's petition for an extra bank holiday has attracted 100,000 signatures since it launched on Boxing Day.

The travel giant believes its petition, part of its multi-million peak season sales campaign, could have the backing of 250,000 Brits by the end of next week.

It now plans to lobby MPs in order to call for an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons. Already 11 MPs support the idea, according to Thomas Cook.

A spokeswoman said: "The campaign has been a phenomenal success and it just shows the strength of interest in the issue. But success will be when the Government listens and grants an extra bank holiday."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was asked his views during a television interview this morning on which charity or cause an extra bank holiday should support as part of a separate GMTV campaign. "We're really pleased to see the Prime Minister taking note of the growing public demand for a new bank holiday," added the Thomas Cook spokeswoman.

So far signatures have been collected through Thomas Cook shops, aircraft, at welcome meetings in resort, and online. In total 5,000 signatures have been collected through a group set up on Facebook.com alone.

Only Romania in the European Union has fewer bank holidays than the UK, which has eight bank holidays a year.

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