More Britons oppose plan to relax Covid-19 rules for Christmas: Poll

This article is more than 12 months old

Dec 17, 2020 06:00 am

LONDON: More people in Britain oppose the government's plans to relax Covid-19 restrictions for five days around Christmas than support them, a poll published yesterday showed.

In the poll conducted by Kantar, 50 per cent of respondents said they opposed or strongly opposed the planned relaxation while 40 per cent backed it.

Britain has recorded more than 64,000 deaths from Covid-19, the second highest number in Europe.

The Kantar poll also showed 65 per cent of respondents would definitely or probably get a Covid-19 vaccination, up two points from a previous poll in November, while 23 per cent would definitely or probably not get a jab, up one point.

After imposing the most onerous restrictions in British peacetime history, Mr Boris Johnson is keen to avoid becoming the prime minister who cancelled Christmas, even though Britain has the sixth worst official Covid-19 death toll in the world.

Two influential medical journals made a rare joint appeal on Tuesday, arguing the government should reverse the decision to allow up to three households to meet at home for five days over Christmas. - REUTERS