Coronavirus: Quarter of Britons would solely blame the government if second wave hits

More than a quarter of British people will solely blame the government if there is a second wave of coronavirus this summer, according to a YouGov poll.

In total 26% of people polled said they would hold the Conservatives responsible if COVID-19 infections started to pick up again.

But many Britons said they would blame the public even more if the country was unable to keep a lid on the virus, with 33% suggesting people would be at fault.

A further 33% said both the government and the public would share the blame.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has raised concerns about the government’s plan, noting that the PM had previously said on lifting lockdown restrictions that “if the alert level will not allow it we will simply wait and go on until we’ve got it right”.

He asked Johnson last week at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) why restrictions had been eased if the alert level was still at four.

Johnson said the UK had been able to ease restrictions because the government’s five tests for doing so had been met.

At this week’s PMQ’s on Wednesday, Sir Keir continued to question the Tory plan, this time attacking the way the government had dealt with schools reopening.

The Labour leader told MPs that parents have “lost confidence” in the government’s schools plan and that millions of children could miss six months’ worth of education.

After the prime minister claimed he had tried to reach consensus with Sir Keir over the issue, the Opposition leader shot back “let’s have this out”, before explaining the pair have not spoken one-on-one about his idea for a “national taskforce” to find a way forward.

Johnson later accused Sir Keir of being unsure over whether schools are not safe enough or should be reopened quicker and encouraged him to speak to “his friends in the left-wing trade unions” to help get schools ready.

Health secretary Matt Hancock refused to give a date for the full launch of the NHS contact tracing app, which had been viewed as a key part of the government’s strategy to contain outbreaks of coronavirus as the lockdown is lifted.

“The app is progressing and we will launch it when the time is right. I am not going to put a date on it,” he said, having originally indicated it would be released in mid-May.

The government was heavily criticised after Boris Johnson’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings was kept on despite travelling 260 miles to stay with his parents during the lockdown.

The PM insisted his aide had done nothing wrong and that the public would still be willing to follow restrictions if he stayed.

The public have also been criticised for a lack of social distancing while attending parks and beaches during the lockdown.

Coronavirus cases and deaths have been falling since lockdown restrictions were eased last month.

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