Government repeatedly less strict on coronavirus than public wanted, poll finds

One year on from the first coronavirus lockdown, a new poll has found that Britons believe that Boris Johnson’s government should have been tougher in imposing restrictions at key moments in the fight against the disease.

And almost two-fifths of those questioned for The Independent (39 per cent) said the government had been unsuccessful on the crucial issue of keeping the death toll from the pandemic down, with less than one-third (32 per cent) saying it had done that job well.

Expert reports have suggested that thousands of lives could have been saved by locking down earlier and that the deadly second wave could have been reined in if greater efforts had been made to stamp out the virus during the summer of 2020, rather than allowing society to reopen as infections waned.

Now the new survey by Savanta ComRes has found that voters believe the prime minister was wrong to delay the first lockdown after the first outbreaks hit Europe in the spring of 2020.

They said that Mr Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak were wrong to encourage a return to restaurants with the Eat Out to Help Out scheme and to urge workers to return to their offices last summer.

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And they said it was right to cancel family gatherings at Christmas - something which Mr Johnson waited until the last minute to do, after insisting a festive shutdown would be “inhuman” even as infection rates rose.

Mr Johnson’s administration won great credit from those taking part in the poll for its vaccination programme, with an emphatic 72 per cent rating it successful, against just 10 per cent who say it has been unsuccessful.

There were also positive ratings for the government’s performance on protecting the NHS from being overwhelmed (50 per cent successful to 26 per cent unsuccessful), providing support for business (50-21), preserving jobs (42-27), supplying personal protective equipment (PPE) (42-31) and managing children’s education (40-30).

But on the crucial issue of handling the death toll from the pandemic, Mr Johnson’s administration was rated to have been unsuccessful by 39 per cent of voters, compared to 32 per cent who deemed its record a success.

And similar numbers thought the government had been unsuccessful in protecting residents of care homes, with 35 per cent saying it had done that job well and 39 per cent badly.

On specific policy decisions, voters agreed by a decisive majority - 59 per cent to 28 - that the government was wrong to wait until 23 March last year before imposing a mandatory stay-at-home order and shutting pubs, restaurants and shops.

First reports of the novel virus had emerged from China in December, and Covid-19 reached Europe in January and was reported in the UK on the last day of that month. 

Despite the World Health Organisation declaring the illness a public health emergency of international concern on 20 January and a pandemic on 11 March, the PM was slow to announce compulsory controls, initially making measures voluntary and allowing mass events like the Cheltenham races to go ahead.

An Imperial College London analysis found that locking down a week earlier would have cut deaths in the first wave from around 36,700 to 15,700, saving 21,000 lives.

On the government’s approach during the summer lull in the epidemic, some 48 per cent now believe that Rishi Sunak was wrong to make his money-off Eat Out to Help Out offer to encourage diners to return to restaurants, compared to 40 per cent who think it was the right thing to do.

Some 49 per cent said that the drive to get workers back to offices - culminating in the briefing which produced the notorious headline “Go back to work or risk losing your job” last August - was wrong, against 34 per cent who thought it was right.

And, despite Mr Johnson’s fear of a backlash branding him the “Grinch who stole Christmas”, a decisive 52 per cent said it was right to ban multi-household gatherings over the festive period, against just 36 per cent who thought it was wrong.

Support for tough measures was strong across all age groups and all regions of the UK, with older people (69 per cent) and Labour (71) and SNP (78) supporters most likely to say the first lockdown should have come earlier.

Only 25-34 year-olds and people in London, Wales and the North-West now say that Eat Out to Help Out was the right thing to do.

Overall, some 44 per cent of those taking part in the poll said Mr Johnson had handled the pandemic well, against 35 per cent who rated him badly.

Mr Sunak was seen has having performed well by 48 per cent and badly by 20 per cent. And health secretary Matt Hancock had a positive rating for his overall performance, with 37 per cent saying he had done well and 31 per cent badly.

The Test and Trace system got negative ratings, with 41 per cent saying it had performed badly and 32 per cent well.

But the NHS emerged as the overwhelming hero of the piece, with a near-unanimous 79 per cent rating the health service’s handling of the pandemic as successful, against just 8 per cent who said it had done badly.

- Savanta ComRes questioned 2,098 British adults between 19 and 21 March.