Tory MPs demand PM allow Covid-safe weddings from March 8

A group of senior Tory MPs has demanded Boris Johnson allow Covid-safe weddings to resume from March 8 and unrestricted ceremonies from May 1. 

Some 13 Conservative backbenchers, including 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady, have backed the What About Weddings campaign. 

The group is pushing for the Prime Minister to include the moves in his lockdown exit plan which he is due to unveil next week. 

The MPs want Mr Johnson to deliver some hope to the hundreds of thousands of people who are waiting to get married and who have seen their plans ruined by lockdown. 

The group is being led by Tory MPs Esther McVey and Philip Davies who got married last September. 

Boris Johnson is under pressure to allow Covid-secure weddings to resume from March 8

Philip Davies and Esther McVey, who got married last September, are among 13 Tory MPs who have backed the What About Weddings campaign

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Current lockdown rules state that people should ‘only consider booking a wedding or civil partnership (or continuing with one that is already booked) in exceptional circumstances’, for example in cases of terminal illness or life changing surgery. 

The What About Weddings campaign represents 400,000 people who work in the £14.7billion UK wedding industry and the estimated half a million couples waiting for restrictions to be lifted so they can get married.        

Mrs McVey, the former Cabinet minister, said: ‘The wedding industry is a hugely important part of the British economy. It supports nearly half a million workers – mostly women – and is worth £14.7 billion. So far, much of the industry has been excluded from Government support.

‘Half a million unmarried couples keep having their plans ruined by lockdowns and restrictions. So Government has got to bring back Covid-secure weddings from 8th March when life begins to return to normal, given that the top four groups will have protection by then from the Covid vaccine.

‘Once the NHS has vaccinated the top nine groups by the end of April, Government should bring back normal weddings, celebrating with family and friends and treasuring the institution of marriage.

‘Vaccinating the top nine risk groups will prevent around 99 per cent of deaths from Covid and around 80 per cent of hospital admissions.

‘That should be a huge moment for the UK to hold its head up high, for couples to walk down the aisle, and for families up and down the country to reunite, to celebrate and to plan their futures.’

Fellow Tory MP Paul Bristow who has also backed the campaign, said: ‘For many getting married is the most important day in their lives, and to have this happy day repeatedly delayed or cancelled is heartbreaking. I have scores of devastated young couples contacting me, desperate to get married, and celebrate with their family and friends.

‘I am really concerned for their well-being and mental health. They are being denied one of the happiest days of their lives, and many are just devastated. Let’s make COVID safe weddings one of the first things allowed as restrictions are lifted from 8 March.’