FUNERAL REVOLT GROWS
Campaigners join forces with MPs to demand: Lift cap on mourners
SUPPORT is growing for the Daily Mail’s campaign to lift Covid restrictions on funerals more quickly.
An influential committee of MPs will meet next week to pile further pressure on ministers to raise the cap of 30 mourners and allow singing again.
It came as Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey became the latest senior figure to demand Government action so that no one has to go through a funeral ‘isolated and alone’ – as the Queen did last Saturday.
And Grief UK, an organisation which comforts the bereaved, spoke out to claim that the ‘shadow pandemic of unresolved grief’ is being ignored by those in power.
Former care minister Caroline Dinenage admitted the current rules were ‘dreadful’ for families – but she said ministers would not be acting now because they were worried about the possible effect on the pandemic if singing was allowed at services. This is despite the fact that ministers are allowing the Brit Awards to go ahead next month, with 4,000 pop fans in the crowd without the need to wear masks or be socially distanced, as part of a pilot scheme.
Funerals are limited to 30 people in England, and according to the Government’s roadmap this is not due to change until June.
The Daily Mail is campaigning for the cap to be eased as the Covid pandemic retreats. Government sources have said they are hopeful that hugs may be allowed at funerals within weeks – but have made no commitment about the 30-mourner cap.
Members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Funerals and Bereavement will meet next week to discuss ways of piling pressure on the Prime Minister. It is understood they are planning to write a letter to Mr Johnson to urge him to change his mind.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed said yesterday: ‘It seems absolutely clear that the Government should do what it can to ensure no one has to go through the funeral of a loved one isolated and alone like the Queen did.’
Leni Robson, a funeral celebrant and founder of Coffin Club Derby, an educational charity which promotes funeral choice, said: ‘The importance to a griever of knowing they gave the person they loved the send- off they deserved, that last action of love, has been turned into watching a ceremony via webcast, from an ill-placed camera that makes it feel like you are watching CCTV.
‘No singing, no gathering afterwards. Social distancing, so you can’t reach out and touch people to offer comfort. It’s unreasonable and unnecessary. Even if venues were allowed to work to a 50 per cent capacity, that would double the attendee allowance at most crematoriums I work at.
‘I can’t imagine what those family members feel like now they are hearing that music awards and football are more important than enabling grieving families to gather together.’
Carole Henderson, the managing director of Grief UK, an organisation dedicated to training people in bereavement counselling, said: ‘It is hard to overestimate the negative emotional impact of the loss of connection with family and friends as a result of the ongoing rules around funerals.
‘The loss of contact and human interactions are additional losses on top of the bereavement, compounding the resulting grief. It is crucial that this situation be addressed urgently, so as not to worsen the shadow pandemic of unresolved grief that is currently being ignored by those in power.’
Challenged about the rules on LBC radio, Miss Dinenage, who is now a culture minister, said: ‘It’s dreadful and we continue to look at how we can make it easier for people through the roadmap and of course the next stage of the roadmap will be announced soon, which will be in May.’
She said that change could not come soon, however, because ‘we’ve worked so hard as a country to get through this pandemic’.
‘People have suffered dreadfully during this lockdown,’ she said. ‘We need to get this right, we can’t throw it all away now. The Brit Awards is a one-off event and it’s all about making sure we have the evidence to be able to reopen.
‘Do you remember last year when things began to reopen? Suddenly there were worries about the potential worries about singing and about music and what potential that could have on transmission.’
‘Unreasonable and unnecessary’