Remembrance Sunday church ban backlash
Lockdown rules on services will force veterans to stand outside, risking their health, critics claim
The ban on Remembrance Sunday church services risks exposing veterans to pneumonia by forcing them to stand outside, the former head of the Navy said yesterday as the backlash against the measures grew. Lord West of Spithead, the former first sea lord, said it was “extraordinary” that veterans were being made to commemorate fallen comrades “in the freezing cold” after ministers made churchgoing a criminal offence during lockdown.
‘Veterans are perfectly capable of social distancing and wearing face masks for half an hour and I hope the Government will think again’
‘It seems very silly to have them standing outside in the freezing cold. This puts them more at risk. They will die of pneumonia rather than Covid’
THE ban on Remembrance Sunday church services risks exposing veterans to pneumonia by forcing them to stand outside instead, the former head of the Navy said yesterday as the backlash against the crackdown grew.
Lord West of Spithead, the former First Sea Lord, said it was “extraordinary” that veterans were being made to commemorate fallen comrades “in the freezing cold” after ministers made churchgoing a criminal offence. Lord Dannatt, the former head of the Army, also urged a rethink and called on the Government to make an exception for Remembrance Sunday while Major General Julian Thompson, who was British land commander during the Falklands war, said the ban on church services was “absolutely ridiculous”.
Sir Michael Fallon, the f ormer defence secretary, turned on his own Government for refusing to trust veterans to maintain social distancing inside a church having previously trusted them to fight in wars.
Outdoor events, including a heavily reduced ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, can still take place and a limited number of guests have been invited to Westminster Abbey to commemorate Armistice Day.
But under lockdown laws, any veteran who attempts to go into a church this Sunday risks a £200 fine, which can rise to £6,400 for every repeat offence.
Lord West told The Daily Telegraph yesterday: “It is not beyond the wit of man to have them allowed i nto a church. I think this ban is extraordinary. If you look at the average size of a church there must be a way of letting veterans in with social distancing. It seems very silly to have them standing outside in the freezing cold. This puts them more at risk. They will die of pneumonia rather than Covid.”
Lord Dannatt said: “I think there is a good case that an exemption could be made for services to continue this Sunday to enable elderly veterans and their families to take part in a service inside.
Sir Michael Fallon, a former defence secretary, said: “Veterans are perfectly capable of social distancing and wearing face masks for half an hour and I hope the Government will think again. It seems ridiculous. We trusted veterans to put their lives on the line for the country but we cannot trust them to stand two metres apart in church.”
Major General Thompson, 86, said: “This ban is just nonsense. It is absolutely ridiculous. It is typical of these guys [ministers] to be panicking.
“They are just being silly. They are making us stand out in the cold and how will they manage that with large groups of people?”
John “Paddy” Hemingway, the only surviving Battle of Britain pilot, told his son of his dismay that church services will not take place.
Brian Hemingway said his 100-yearold father, who is now in a nursing home, “feels sad” for people unable to come together as a group to mark Remembrance Day. The condemnation follows criticism by Theresa May, the former prime minister, who told the House of Commons on Wednesday that the church ban had had unintended consequences.
“The Covid-secure Remembrance service in Worcester Cathedral is now going to be turned into a pre-recorded online service,” she said.
“Surely those men and women who gave down their lives for our freedom deserve better than this?”
Government sources said last night there would be no chance of compromising the Remembrance Sunday church service ban.
The draft law allows for gatherings on Remembrance Sunday, Armistice Day and the centenary of the burial of the Unknown Soldier, which take place on Wednesday, as long as they take place outside or at Westminster Abbey.