People in England think the devolved governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have done a better job on handling the coronavirus crisis than the UK administration of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, according to a new poll.
Only 41 per cent of respondents in a poll felt the UK government had dealt with the crisis "very well" or "fairly well." And 53 per cent went on to say that the Westminster government had done "a bad job."
The YouGov poll was carried out on behalf of YesCymru and showed English people were more impressed with the efforts of Nicola Sturgeon's government in Scotland or Mark Drakeford in Wales in their handling of the pandemic.
Of the people in England questioned, 57 per cent said they thought the Edinburgh government had "performed well", with just 19 per cent giving it a "bad" rating.
Northern Ireland also did well with 45 per cent agreeing with this sentiment as 13 per cent said it had done "poorly."
Political scientist Dr Dafydd Trystan, commenting on the polls findings said: "The results from England on the comparative performance of the four governments of the UK are quite remarkable.
"While electors take an unfavourable view of the UK government's approach to Covid, net -12, their view of the other governments of the UK is far more favourable.
"The Northern Ireland Executive has a rating of +32%, the Welsh government +33% and Nicola Sturgeon's Scottish government records a remarkably positive score of +39%.
"These ratings are underpinned by the fact that Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat voters alike rate positively the effective record of the Celtic governments in comparison to the apparent failures of Boris Johnson in England.”
YesCymru's chairman Siôn Jobbins said the results were "extraordinary."
He believes the crisis could lead to a debate on the future of England and the United Kingdom.
He said: "These numbers are incredible and show people in England are now aware of devolution in a way they weren't before.
"And they like what they see in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast and they definitely don't like what they see in Westminster.
"The Covid-19 crisis has dramatically shown the flaws in the centralised Westminster style of government and it's time that we have a proper debate about the future of the union."
He added that the union is "letting down the people of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and people in England know it.
"The Westminster establishment has been found out."
