Christmas party scandal means public less likely to follow new lockdown rules - 'Trust is gone'

An expert has warned the public are less likely to follow new Covid rules following the Tory Christmas party scandal.

Professor Kit Yates, Mathematical Biologist at the University of Bath, said "trust is gone" after allegations Downing Street staff broke lockdown rules by holding a holiday celebration last year.

Boris Johnson has ordered an investigation into the claims and told MPs he was “furious” about footage apparently showing aides, including his former spokeswoman Allegra Stratton, joking about it.

At Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) on Wednesday, he apologised “unreservedly” for the offence caused by the video but insisted he had been repeatedly assured “there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken”.

Prof Yates’ warning comes amid reports the government could bring in further Plan B measures in England imminently to slow the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

He said: “We face the very real prospect that the government will need to reimpose restrictions over the near future in order to curb the spread of Omicron.

“I worry, in the light of the Downing Street party story, that there is no motivation for the public to comply. Trust is gone."

Sir Charles Walker, a former vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, said the government is likely to now find it “almost impossible” to introduce “very proscriptive” Covid restrictions due to the saga.

He told Times Radio: “I think now that, going forward, any measures will be advisory.

“I think it would be very difficult to enshrine them in law and then once again ask our poor police forces to enforce them.”

In an extraordinary move, another Tory MP accused the government of implementing new rules to distract from the scandal.

At PMQs, senior Tory William Wragg challenged Johnson about reports a Cabinet meeting and press conference were planned “to initiate Covid winter Plan B”.

The chairman of the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee told the Prime Minister: “Very few will be convinced by this diversionary tactic.”

Johnson told him: “No decisions will be taken without consulting the Cabinet.”

Last month, England's chief medical officer (CMO) Chris Whitty said he was worried the public would not accept new lockdown rules.

He said: “My greatest worry at the moment is that people... if we need to do something more muscular at some point, whether it's for the current new variant or at some later stage, can we still take people with us?”

An Opinium Research poll previously found the public was less likely to follow rules after Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic cummings caused public outrage when he drove from London to County Durham with his wife and son during the first lockdown.

In a breach of restrictions, Cummings travelled 250 miles to his parents’ property in Durham, after his wife developed coronavirus-related symptoms.

Despite calls for him to resign over the journey – which included a trip to local beauty spot Barnard Castle to check the quality of his eyesight – Cummings was backed by the Prime Minister before he quit six months later.

Chris Curtis, from Opinium Research, added: “In terms of what impact stories like this might have on compliance with rules, we do have a good case study from the Cummings saga last year.

“After that trip, 21% said they were following the rules less strictly than a week before and of that 21%, 32% wrote in an open text box in a follow-up question that Cummings was the reason they were breaking the rules more.

“That makes around 7% of the public who openly said they started following the rules less because of Cummings.”