Public fury over Boris Johnson's handling of Covid Christmas rules has been laid bare by a snap poll.
A new YouGov poll, conducted after the Tier 4 rule changes yesterday, found 61% think the government handled the coronavirus rules over the festive season badly.
Some 38% said it had been handled "very badly".
Almost half of those polled said they "strongly support" the introduction of Tier 4- which see non-essential retail and travel banned for around a third of the population of England from today.
And in total some 74% felt supportive of Tier 4 - with just 17% opposed.
Overall, 67% said they supported the wider rule changes, including shortening the length of Christmas bubbles, with 25% opposed.
But just 33% of those polled said the Government had handled Christmas coronavirus rule well.
It came as Keir Starmer accused Boris Johnson of failing to make tough decisions because he is “scared of being unpopular.”
In a press conference this morning as millions saw their Christmas plans thrown into chaos, the Labour leader accused the Prime Minister of a record of failure and “mixed messages” throughout the pandemic.
He said: “There is no getting away from the fact - and what angers people the most and frustrates me the most is that – yet again – the Prime Minister waited until the eleventh hour to take this decision.”
“It was blatantly obvious last week that the Prime Minister’s plan for a free-for-all over Christmas was a risk too far. And yet, rather listening to concerns and taking them seriously the Prime Minister did what he always does.
“Dismissed the challenge, ruffled his hair and made a flippant comment.”
He said the PM’s claim that the new measures were entirely due to the new, more easily transmitted strain of the virus don’t “stand up to scrutiny”.
He added: “We have a Prime Minister who is so scared of being unpopular that he is incapable of taking tough decisions until it is too late.
“Whether that was going into lockdown in the first place extending the furlough scheme, bringing in a circuit break in October to protect the economy and now Christmas.”
