Only 13% in Wales prefer England’s approach to tackling the Covid-19 pandemic

Only 13% of people in Wales prefer England’s approach to the pandemic, according to a new YouGov poll.

The poll commissioned by ITV on the anniversary of the first lockdown showed that 59% preferred the approach taken to the pandemic in Wales compared to over the border.

Despite this, the poll showed that only a little over half, 52%, of Welsh people believe that the Welsh Government should decide on the lockdown rules in Wales, while 38% thought it should be the UK Government deciding for the whole of the UK.

The poll also showed that 61% of people in Wales think the Welsh Government has handled the pandemic well. That compares to 53% who think that the UK Government has handled it badly.

63% of people also supported the latest relaxations of lockdown.

‘Decline’

Despite giving their handling of Covid the thumbs up, the same poll suggested that Labour could be the biggest losers at the May Senedd election, losing as many as seven seats to Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives.

The poll shows the Conservatives up 9% and Plaid Cymru up 3% on the 2016 constituency vote. Meanwhile, on the regional list, the Conservatives up 9% and Plaid Cymru up 2% on 2016.

The Conservatives are projected to win five seats and Plaid Cymru three, with Labour winning one extra regional seat in the north of Wales.

The Vale of Glamorgan, the Vale of Clwyd, Gower, Wrexham and Cardiff North are projected to be gained by the Tories, according to the projection.

Llanelli, Blaenau Gwent and Cardiff West, the seat of the First Minister Mark Drakeford, are projected to go to Plaid Cymru.

According to the poll, the final makeup of the Senedd would include 22 Labour seats, down from 29, 19 Conservative seats, up from 11, and 14 Plaid Cymru seats, up from 12.

If accurate it would represent by far Labour’s worst result at Senedd elections, surpassing their previous worst result of 26 in 2007.

Prof Roger Awan-Scully from Cardiff University told ITV’s Sharp End that the poll could be an outlier but was similar to the March YouGov poll.

“They are also very much in line with the changes seen in recent Britain-wide polling, which has suggested some strengthening of the Conservative position and a modest Labour decline,” he said.

“The polling continues to indicate that there are three major parties in the contest for the Senedd. But, Labour’s status as the leading one of those parties no longer looks as if it can be taken for granted”.