Coronavirus: British public increasingly worried about lockdown easing, survey finds

Shift in public support may have been caused by images of people flocking to beaches and parks during hot weather, YouGov suggests

Britons have grown increasingly concerned about the government’s plans to ease coronavirus lockdown measures, a survey suggests.

Pubs, restaurants and hairdressers will be allowed to reopen from Saturday, along with a reduction in the two metre social distancing rule to one metre.

Following Boris Johnson‘s announcement of the changes, a snap YouGov poll showed the public strongly supported the revival of such businesses.

However, the survey of 1,626 people between 26-28 June shows support for opening pubs, restaurants and other venues has since fallen from 64 to 55 per cent. Similarly, opposition to the change rose from 29 to 38 per cent.

Such a shift in public support may have been caused by images taken last weekend of people flocking to beaches and parks during the hot weather across the UK, according to the pollster.

While last week’s snap poll showed people were more likely to support the pace the government’s pace on easing lockdown measures (47 per cent) than say it was going too quickly (37 per cent), the public now believe the government is moving with undue haste.

Some 48 per cent think the new measures go too far, while 37 per cent think the government has got the balance right.

Only a small minority (7 per cent) think the measures do not go far enough.

YouGov acknowledged it was difficult to be certain about what had caused the apparent shift in public opinion, but noted the pictures of images of crowds in public places.

“It’s likely that the shift in support was sparked by images of packed beaches and parks over the hot weekend,” said Chris Curtis, political research manager at YouGov.

“Polling already shows a large majority of the public are worried about a second wave of coronavirus, so photos and rolling news footage of busy public areas will only reignite those concerns.

“Keeping the public onside is going to be crucial for the government during the next stage of the pandemic, given the fine line they need to tread between making customers confident enough to venture out to get the economy going again while at the same time not signalling to the public that social distancing is over.

“The government will therefore hope that this week’s wetter weather means fewer pictures of packed parks and perhaps a bounce back in support for their changes.”