A large majority of Britons do not trust public officials to follow new Covid restrictions

The Britain Barometer is our regular polling of public opinion in Britain.  We cover a range of topics including political views and voting intentions, the economy, government policies and emerging issues important to the British public.

16 December 2021, London - Kantar Public publishes its latest barometer on British public opinion and voting intentions, which finds Britons are concerned about the Omicron variant, and broadly in support of the measures introduced by the government in response to the Omicron variant. At the same time, people don’t trust politicians and civil servants to follow the new Covid rules, and more than half of Britons think the government has handled the pandemic poorly.

Key findings from Kantar Public’s research, which took place between 9 and 13 December, include:

• Seven in ten people in Britain (67%) are very/fairly concerned about the Omicron Coronavirus variant, while 29% are not very/not at all concerned.
• Three quarters of Britons (75%) support or strongly support the new measures announced in response to the Omicron variant.¹ Only 20% oppose or strongly oppose these new measures.
• Two thirds of Britons (67%) do not trust the Prime Minister very much/at all to follow the new Covid restrictions. Only 27% of people trust the Prime Minister to follow the rules. A similar level of citizen mistrust can be found towards government ministers, MPs and civil servants: 
• The public also do not trust government ministers (71% do not trust very much / do not trust at all), MPs in general (72%) and civil servants (61%) to follow the new restrictions
• 56% think the government has handled the pandemic very/fairly poorly (+5 vs November) and 37% think it has handled it very/fairly well (-3).
• 43% think the government is placing too much emphasis on protecting the country’s economy, and not enough on protecting people’s health (+1). This is the highest figure since September 2020.
• 70% of Britons think that the UK and French governments should co-operate more to respond to the migrant boat situation in the English Channel. while 8% disagree; 16% neither agree nor disagree.

More detailed analysis on themes

1. Attitude towards COVID-19 and response to the new variant 

People are concerned about the Omicron Coronavirus variant, and increasingly dissatisfied with the government’s handling of the pandemic:

• Seven in ten people (67%) are very/fairly concerned about the new Omicron Coronavirus variant. 29% are not very/not at all concerned.
• 56% think the government has handled the pandemic very/fairly poorly (+5 vs November 2021), this is the highest figure since November 2020. 37% think it has handled it very/fairly well (-3).
• 55% think the government is very poor/fairly poor at communicating information about e Coronavirus (+8), which is also the highest figure since November 2020. 39% think very good/fairly good (-8).
• 49% (-1) think that vaccines should be compulsory for all adults. 41% (+4) think that adults should be allowed to choose.
• Seven in ten people (68%, -2) say they are very/somewhat satisfied with the vaccine rollout organised by the government and health authorities. This is the lowest figure reported since this question was first asked in January 2021. 26% are not very/not at all satisfied with the vaccine rollout (+5).
• Six in ten people (59%) are very/quite satisfied with the speed at which the booster vaccine is being offered to adults. 20% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied and 14% are not very satisfied/not at all satisfied.
• 43% (+1) of people think that the government is placing too much emphasis on protecting the country’s economy, and not enough on protecting people’s health. This is the highest figure since September 2020. 18% think it has got the balance about right (-5).

2. Level of trust towards public officials' compliance with Covid measures

While a large portion of Britons support the new measures introduced by the government in response to the Omicron variant, the majority don’t trust politicians and civil servants to follow these rules:

• Three quarters of people (75%) strongly support or support the new measures announced in response to the Omicron variant, while only 20% strongly oppose or oppose the new measures.

When it comes to trusting whether politicians and civil servants will follow the rules:

• Two thirds of people (67%) do not trust the Prime Minister very much/at all to follow the new Covid restrictions. Only 27% of people trust (somewhat/completely) the Prime Minister to follow the rules.
• Seven in ten people (72%) do not trust MPs very much/at all to follow the new covid restrictions, while 71% do not trust Government ministers. Only a quarter of people trust MPs (23%) or Government ministers (24%) to follow the new Covid restrictions.
• Six in ten people (61%) do not trust Civil servants very much/at all to follow the new covid restriction, while 30% trust them somewhat or completely.

3. The migrant boat situation in the English Chanel

• 70% of Britons strongly/slightly agree that the UK and French governments should co-operate more to respond to the migrant boat situation, while 8% disagree; 16% neither agree nor disagree.
• 54% of people agree that the UK government should make it harder for anyone arriving illegally by boat to claim asylum successfully. 21% neither agree nor disagree, while 19% disagree.
• 31% agree that the UK government should do more to help migrants legally claim asylum in the UK, while 38% strongly/slightly disagree, and 24% neither agree nor disagree.
• 33% agree that migrants on boats approaching the UK should be provided with legal routes to claim asylum, while 40% disagree, and 22% neither agree nor disagree.

4. Adult social care

People support the government’s proposed reforms to adult social care, but are divided on whether the lifetime cap is at the right level:

• 51% of people strongly support/tend to support the governments proposed reforms to adult social care. 28% of people strongly oppose/tend to oppose them. 21% are not sure.

• 36% of people think the £86,000 lifetime cap on adult social care fees is too high, 27% think the cap is about right, while 6% think it is too low. 31% of people are not sure.
• Half of people (52%) think that the cap should be lower for people with a lower level of savings and assets, while 26% think the cap should be the same for everyone, and 22% are not sure.

5. Household-level economic situation

When asked about their household situation, an increasing number of households say they are falling behind with some or all of their bills:

• 30% (+1) of people say they are behind with some or all their household bills, the highest figure we have recorded since this question was introduced in September 2021.
• Four in ten Britons (41%) report that they are finding it harder to meet their monthly household budget than a year ago (nc). 48% are finding it about the same (-1).
• Over four in ten (44%) report that their household income has fallen behind the cost of living over the last few months (+3). 45% report that their household income has kept up with the cost of living (+1), and 11% report that their income has gone up by more than the cost of living (-3).
• Of those who report that their income has fallen behind the cost of living, three in ten (29%) report the rising cost of energy bills as being the main reason and 28% attribute it to the rising cost of food.

• Thinking about the year ahead, four in ten (45%,nc) think their household income will fall behind the cost of living. 46% think their household income will keep up with the cost of living (+4), and 9% think it will go up by more than the cost of living (-4).
• 61% (+) of Britons are very/fairly concerned about not being able to afford to keep their home warm enough this winter; 33% (nc) are not very/not at all concerned.

6. Crime

Almost six in ten people (57%) think the government are doing very/fairly poorly at tackling crime in the UK. 32% of people think very/fairly well while 12% are unsure.

•  55% of people do not know which political party they trust the most to tackle crime in the UK.

• 17% trust the Conservatives the most to tackle crime, while 15% trust Labour the most and 5% trust the Liberal Democrats the most.

• Lab 38% (+2 vs November 2021)
• Con 34% (-5)
• L Dem 11% (+1)
• Green 7% (+2)
• SNP 3% (-1)
• Reform UK (formerly Brexit Party) 3% (+1)
• UKIP 2% (nv)
• Plaid Cymru 1% (nc)
• Other 2% (+1)

Methodological information

A total of 1,074 interviews were conducted online among adults living in Great Britain between the 9th and 13th December 2021. All interviews were conducted online using the Kantar Research Express. The Kantar online access panel was the main sample source.

The data was weighted to match population totals for age, gender, 2019 General Election voting patterns, 2016 EU referendum voting patterns, education, region, and likelihood to vote in the next General Election. Any use of this research must cite Kantar Public as the source.

This Britain Barometer was issued under our former global brand name: Kantar Public.