Most Scots trust Holyrood to halt new wave of Covid-19, poll finds

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A poll of nearly 12,000 people shows 62 per cent had confidence in Holyrood’s ability to prevent a second wave of the virus. The remaining 38 per cent were not confident at all, or not very confident.

The survey also found a majority of those polled across the UK said that the message of ‘Stay at home’; ‘Protect the NHS’ and ‘Save lives’ was clear (85 per cent) and these measures were appropriate (65 per cent). Only four per cent thought it was an overreaction.

The findings – captured from 17 April to 7 May – are among the preliminary results from a UK-wide survey, launched last month by the University of Edinburgh’s Generation Scotland project, which seeks to capture how the pandemic is impacting on people’s lives.

So far, 14,500 volunteers have taken part in the CovidLife survey – funded by Wellcome – with 11,686 people in Scotland and 640 in England answering questions about their confidence in Westminster and Holyrood.

Some 65 per cent of respondents from across the UK – including smaller samples in Wales and Northern Ireland – said the UK administrations’ responses to Covid-19 have been about right. This compares with 32 per cent who thought they had under-reacted and 4 per cent who said there had been an overreaction.

Less certainty about UK government

A majority of respondents in both Scotland and England – 62 per cent and 68 per cent respectively – lacked confidence in the UK Government’s ability to prevent a second wave of Covid-19.  

Further data on mental health and wellbeing, and the social and economic impact of lockdown will be released in the coming weeks. The findings will be shared with the UK and Scottish Governments.

A corresponding survey for 12 to 17 year olds is due to launch soon. The project team plans to develop a further survey investigating how rural life in Scotland has been affected during the pandemic.

Professor David Porteous, lead investigator for CovidLife, said: “

Our volunteers were markedly less confident in Westminster’s ability to prevent a second outbreak of COVID-10 than Holyrood’s. This was for the period when the UK-wide message was: ‘Stay at home; Protect the NHS; Save lives’. It will be very interesting to see how that level of confidence is affected now that Westminster has changed its message to ‘Stay alert; Control the virus; Save lives’.

The survey is ongoing. Any UK resident over 18 can take part.

Take the CovidLife survey

Further information

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