Most blame UK Government for mishandling of Covid pandemic
THE public blames the UK Government far more than the Welsh Government for any poor handling of the coronavirus crisis, according to a new poll.
The King’s College London and Ipsos Mori study also found more people thought the UK’s Covid-19 crisis has been handled badly than those who thought it had been handled well, with the Government receiving most of the blame.
The figures came as Wales recorded no new deaths with coronavirus for the thirteenth time this month.
Of the 2,237 UK adults aged 16-75 who were polled, 70% blamed the UK Government as a whole for the mismanagement of the pandemic, with 65% blaming the Prime Minister.
Some 55% of respondents blamed “the public who failed to follow guidance”, while the Conservative Party was blamed by 41%.
According to the poll, the public looks more favourably on how the devolved administrations have dealt with the pandemic, with just 5% of those asked in Wales blaming the Welsh Government, 11% in Scotland blaming the Scottish Government and 17% in Northern Ireland blaming the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The survey also showed that 52% of the public does not trust the UK Government’s advice on when it is safe to start to return to work, school or leisure activities, compared with 45% who do. By 42% to 36%, the public is more likely to think the pandemic has been handled badly than well.
There is a split along party lines when it comes to the UK Government’s role, with 2019 Labour voters (60%) three times more likely than 2019 Conservative voters (21%) to say it has been mismanaged.
There was a note of caution with the Welsh findings, as while more than 2,000 people were questioned overall, the number of respondents from Wales – 102 – represents a relatively small sample size.
Professor Bobby Duffy, director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London, said Boris Johnson and his Government “are the focus of blame”.
He added: “People see the UK public as a key reason it’s gone well – and a key reason it’s gone badly, showing how varied an image we have of how different people have followed the guidelines, or not.”
In terms of who handled the crisis well in the UK, the NHS is the standout body, with 72% believing the health service handed it well.
Only 30% felt that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had handled it well, compared to 42% who credited the Welsh Government.
Kelly Beaver, managing director of public affairs at Ipsos Mori, said party loyalty seemed to play a role in how people think the Government has performed.
She added: “It’s very much back to politics as usual when it comes to how Britons feel Covid-19 has been handled, with those who voted Labour in 2019 far likelier to say that the Government or the Conservative Party are at fault than those who voted Conservative in 2019.”
In a separate development, Public Health Wales (PHW) announced on Tuesday the total number of deaths with lab-confirmed Covid-19 in Wales since the outbreak began remains at 1,549. There have now been no new deaths reported by the NHS trust on 12 occasions in July ( July 6, 10, 12, 13 and 16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 27 and 28).
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean no-one died with the virus on those specific dates, as it can take several days for a death to be logged officially.
Meanwhile, PHW said the number of lab-confirmed positive cases of coronavirus in Wales had increased on Tuesday by 21 to bring the total to 17,191.
Wrexham recorded by far the most positive cases with eight, followed by
Flintshire with three and Denbighshire with two.
Gwynedd, Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan, Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf, and Carmarthenshire all recorded one, while all other local authorities had no new cases. Despite testing capacity standing at 15,000 each day in Wales, around a third (5,009) were used on Monday.
On Tuesday, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released its weekly update on coronavirus deaths in Wales. Unlike PHW, these figures are described as the “true” death toll as they include all deaths where the virus was mentioned on a death certificate, and not just cases cases identified in a lab.
In total, it found that 2,501 people had died with coronavirus in Wales up until July 17.
Meanwhile, latest data shows Wales has a lower “R number” for coronavirus – which gives an indication of the rate of infection – than England.
England currently has an R number of 0.8-1.0 with the virus falling by between 4% and 0% a day, according to the UK Government’s pandemic modelling body SPI-M.