Oldham MP calls for mourner restrictions to be relaxed

Jim McMahon, MP for Oldham West and Royton, has called on the health secretary to relax Covid-19 restrictions and allow up to 30 people to attend funerals in his constituency.

In a letter addressed to Matt Hancock, McMahon identified that there is “real confusion about the complexity of the rules applied to differing areas’’ and highlighted the difference between restrictions in Oldham to the rest of Greater Manchester area.

Currently, up to 20 mourners are allowed to attend funerals.

As of 29 September, Oldham has the fourth highest infection rate in the region, behind Manchester and Bolton.

McMahon said: ‘‘Many of these places have since overtaken Oldham and every single borough in Greater Manchester now has an infection rate higher than Oldham did when these social distancing restrictions were put in place.

‘‘The number of attendees at funerals in Oldham is limited to 20, despite the limit being 30 in places with higher infection rates. I write to you today to ask that these restrictions in Oldham are rationalised and brought into line with other areas.’’