Poll shows plunge in support for Welsh Labour as Mark Drakeford faces fury over slowing down vaccinations – while Boris’s ratings spike 20 points amid optimism over progress in England
- New YouGov poll shows Labour in Wales has suffered significant drop in support
- Labour now on 34 per cent, down four points, ahead of Welsh elections in May
- Polling drop comes amid fury at Mark Drakeford over ‘go slow’ vaccination plan
- But Boris Johnson has seen a ratings spike over the rollout of Covid-19 jabs
Support for Welsh Labour has plummeted ahead of elections in May amid mounting fury at Mark Drakeford over his coronavirus vaccination strategy.
A new YouGov survey conducted between January 11-14 put Mr Drakeford’s party on 34 per cent, down four points when compared to a poll conducted in October last year.
Parties on the left appear to have benefited from the drop, with Plaid Cymru up two points to 22 per cent, the Greens up three points to six per cent and the Lib Dems up one point on four per cent.
Nigel Farage’s rebranded Reform UK party is up five points to five per cent while the Tories have dropped one point to 26 per cent.
The numbers represent a hammer blow to Mr Drakeford ahead of the Senedd elections on May 6, with the poll having been conducted before he became embroiled in a damaging row over the roll-out of Covid-19 jabs.
But Boris Johnson has received a polling boost as increasing numbers of people believe the UK Government is handling the roll-out well.
Welsh Labour has suffered a significant fall in support ahead of the Welsh Assembly elections in May
The polling fall comes amid growing pressure on Mark Drakeford over the rollout of coronavirus vaccines in Wales
Wales has faced fierce criticism in recent days for vaccinating fewer people in proportion to its population than the other home nations.
Mr Drakeford prompted fury after he said there was ‘no point’ in rushing to administer all the available vaccine this week if it meant vaccinators were ‘standing around with nothing to do for another month’. He later sought to clarify his remarks.
In contrast, Mr Johnson has been handed a polling boost, with 61 per cent of people of the belief the Government is handling the roll-out very well or somewhat well, according to poll numbers from January 18.
That represents a 20 point jump on the 41 per cent recorded by YouGov on January 6.
The rollout of coronavirus vaccinations across the UK is increasingly becoming a political flashpoint.
Statistically Wales is behind the other three home nations in delivering the first dose of the vaccine.
As of Saturday, four per cent of the population in Wales had been vaccinated, compared with 4.1 per cent in Scotland, 5.9 per cent in England and 7.4 per cent in Northern Ireland.
Mr Drakeford dismissed the statistics as ‘very marginal differences’ and said there was ‘no point’ in rushing to administer all the available vaccine this week if it meant vaccinators were ‘standing around with nothing to do for another month’.
‘The sensible thing to do is to use the vaccine you’ve got over the period that you’ve got it for so that your system can absorb it, they can go on working, that you don’t have people standing around with nothing to do,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
‘There will be no point and certainly it will be logistically very damaging to try to use all of that in the first week and then to have all our vaccinators standing around with nothing to do for another month.’
Critics described his comments as ‘astonishing’ as Welsh Conservative leader Paul Davies said he was ‘flabbergasted’ by Mr Drakeford’s explanation.
‘This is a matter of life and death and that’s why it’s so crucial now that they get these vaccines out to people as soon as possible,’ he said.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has received a polling boost as an increasing number of Britons back the Government’s handling of the vaccine rollout
‘To suggest that vaccines should be rolled out over a period of time so that vaccinators are not standing around with nothing to do is absolutely preposterous.’
Mr Drakeford’s Welsh Government colleague Kirsty Williams, the education minister, subsequently appeared to contradict the First Minister when she said there was no delay in distributing vaccines.
‘We are not delaying the use of Pfizer vaccine to anybody in Wales and we are as keen as anybody to get those vaccinations out,’ she told a Welsh Government briefing.
Later on Monday, Mr Drakeford denied that vaccines were being held back in a video posted to Twitter.
He said: ‘Let me be clear. Nobody is holding back vaccines. All our health boards are receiving doses of Pfizer as quickly as they can use it.’
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