One in 10 young adults in Britain never wear a face mask, poll finds

More older people covering up to protect themselves

Some local authorities have kept mask rules in place on public transport (AFP/Getty)

One in 10 young adults in Britain never wear a face mask, a poll has found.

A survey by Savanta ComRes, conducted in the days after plan B measures were lifted, found that 10 per cent of people aged between 18 and 34 said they never wear a mask.

Older people were almost twice as likely to say they still wear a mask in some circumstances.

Among people aged 55 and over, only 6 per cent said they never wear one.

Face masks were recommended by health authorities as a key way of slowing the spread of Covid-19.

Despite an end to the government mandate to wear masks in certain spaces, some local authorities have kept the requirement in place on public transport.

Half of UK adults said they wear a mask to protect themselves, while two in five said they did to protect others (39 per cent).

Younger people were more likely to wear one to protect others.

The proportion who gave this reason fell to just one-third among those aged 55 and over. This age group was most likely to say they wear one to protect themselves (57 per cent).

The requirement to wear face masks in public spaces such as in shops or on the bus was dropped on 27 January, when plan B restrictions came to an end.

Public transport passengers in London and Manchester have been asked to carry on wearing masks.

Chris Hopkins, political research director at Savanta ComRes, said: “Behavioural evidence and polling has continued to show that face-covering compliance is significantly higher when people are mandated to wear them, and that marries up with people tending to feel far more positively about shops and brands who mandate that customers and service users continue to wear them.

“However, a small but significant proportion, particularly young people, will continue to not wear them, and therefore it feels slightly counterproductive for the government to rely on brands to enforce such policies when research has shown that it’s government rules that drive behavioural change.”

Savanta ComRes interviewed 2,283 UK adults aged 18 and over online between 28 and 30 January.

The pollster also asked about support for mandatory vaccination for NHS frontline workers, a policy that was rescinded last week.

Just under half supported the policy (46 per cent). Support was higher among 2019 Conservative voters (53 per cent) and those aged 55 and over (53 per cent).

Support fell to two in five of those aged 18-34 (41 per per cent).