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Bristol Post
Bristol Post
National
Annie Gouk & Conor Gogarty

Bristol's verdict on how leaders have handled coronavirus

Our readers have rated the performance of local and national leaders in responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

Some 8,114 people took part in Bristol Live's Great Big Lockdown Survey between April 30 and May 5.

They rated the Government's handling of the outbreak at 6.2 out of 10 on average, falling in the 'good' category.

Chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty received the strongest average score for performance with 7.2, another 'good' rating.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak got a score of 7.0, Prime Minister Boris Johnson 6.5 and Health Secretary Matt Hancock 6.1.

Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees received an average rating of 4.3, which is in the 'OK' category.

Bristol mayor Marvin Rees (Bristol City Council)

Some 70 per cent of people in Bristol thought social distancing measures were introduced too late.

Across 42 titles in the Reach network which ran the survey - with more than 400,000 respondents - Bristol Live readers were among the most critical of the timing.

Only Liverpool, London, Hertfordshire and Cheshire titles had a higher percentage of readers who believed the measures were brought in too late.

And only 25 per cent of Bristol Live readers thought the restrictions were implemented at the right time.

Three per cent said "I don't know", two per cent said none should have been introduced at all and zero per cent said they were brought in too early.

Mr Johnson will make a televised speech on Sunday (May 10) to outline plans for the next stage of England's lockdown.

He said on Wednesday he wanted to possibly "get going" with some measures to ease lockdown on Monday.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: "Any changes in the short term will be modest, small, incremental and very carefully monitored."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said:

“This is an unprecedented global pandemic and we have taken the right steps at the right time, guided by the latest scientific evidence and working with a team of world renowned scientists, public health experts and clinicians.

“The Government has been working day and night to battle coronavirus, delivering a strategy designed to protect our NHS and save lives, and taken unprecedented steps to support businesses and workers and protect the UK’s economy.”

Mr Rees declined to comment.

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