A new poll by Omnisis has revealed that 49% of people do not trust the Covid-19 Inquiry to deliver a fully independent report into the Government’s handling of the pandemic.
A further 59% said they felt that a separate investigation should be carried out into the way PPE contracts were awarded during the pandemic, with 59% agreeing the process could be characterised as “corrupt”.
Meanwhile, the poll asked people to weigh in on the debate around the charitable status of independent schools which means they avoid paying VAT on fees following a clash between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer this week.
A total of 49% of Brits said independent schools should lose their charitable status while 56% said publicly-funded, faith-based schools should lose their ability to give preference to children from families who share their beliefs.
In our weekly voter intention tracker, Labour dropped a point on the Conservatives - despite the Chester by-election result – but still hold a 23-point lead on 48% to the Tories’ 25%.
Our other weekly trackers showed:
- Rishi Sunak dropped seven points and is now tied on 30% with Sir Keir Starmer as voters’ preferred PM
- The Prime Minister’s approval rating also dropped by one point to 34% this week
- Our “re-join the EU” tracker showed a one-point gain for re-joiners (to 58%) with 42% saying we should stay out of the EU, a one-point drop
- There was little movement in whether or not people felt we were right to leave, with 54% (-1) saying the UK was wrong and 46% (+1) saying we were right to leave
The latest Omnisis poll, conducted on 1st December 2022, questioned 1,189 people and is weighted to a nationally representative population.
Brian Cooper, Managing Director of Omnisis, said: “As the Covid-19 Inquiry began, we wanted to get a sense of how people felt about it and whether or not they thought it would be effective. We were quite surprised to see such a high level of distrust towards the investigation at such an early stage.
“We were also interested to find out what people thought about the debate around the way independent schools are funded and taxed following the head-to-head between Sunak and Starmer this week, with nearly half of Brits saying changes should be made.
“The result of the Chester By-Election was also an interesting gauge of public sentiment this week and reflects the kind of voting intention we’ve been seeing in our weekly tracker.”
Get the full results here: https://omnisis.co.uk/poll-results/vi-12-results-02-12-2022