People in Wales seem to have lost faith in local lockdowns across the UK despite still trusting their own government over Westminster
New YouGov data shows that approaching half of Welsh people (47%) now want Westminster to decide COVID rules for all of the UK – up from 34% in October. The number of people in favour of devolved governments deciding has dropped from 54% to 43%.
Over the same time period, Welsh people have come round to the idea of a one-size-fits-all COVID approach for all of the UK, rather than having different rules in different areas. While only a third (35%) of Welsh people felt this way back in October, most (63%) now prefer this approach.
The shift in opinion coincides with falling confidence in the devolved government. The number of people in Wales who say it is handling the pandemic well fell by 21 points to 45% in December and has hardly recovered since. Currently, the Welsh are split 49%/46% on whether its government’s COVID response is going well or badly.
But while this drop may have some impact, the change in sentiment is more likely related to falling support for local approaches. The Welsh are even less fond of Westminster’s COVID response than that of their own government. Over three in five (62%) say the UK government is handling the pandemic poorly.
Over half (56%) also say they prefer the approach to COVID taken in Wales, while only 12% favour the English one, and a fifth (20%) say neither. Even Conservative voters in Wales are more likely to prefer the Welsh strategy (41%) over the English one (33%).
