UK Government’s Covid-19 vaccine performance rated highly by two thirds of Scots in new poll

An overwhelming majority of Scots approve of the UK Government’s handling of the development and distribution of coronavirus vaccines, according to new polling from Survation.

The survey, commissioned by the pro-UK group Scotland in Union (SIU), asked respondents between March 9 and 12 to score the UK Government’s performance in the “development, production and distribution of Covid-19 vaccinations” on a scale of one to five – where one is poor and five is excellent.

One quarter (25 per cent) of the 1,011 adults polled gave the UK Government’s vaccine performance a score of five, while a further 35 per cent rated it as a four.

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By contrast, just 13 per cent of respondents gave the UK Government a score of two or lower and 23 per cent ranked it at a three out of five.

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The results come as data published on Wednesday showed the number of Brits who have received their first dose of a vaccine has surpassed 25 million.

Ministers in Scotland are now hopeful that as many as 400,000 people could be vaccinated by the end of the week, amid a significant surge in supplies from south of the border.

But Survation’s polling also found that approval of the UK Government’s handling of the vaccination effort varied significantly between different age groups in Scotland.

An overwhelming majority of Scots approve of the UK Government’s handling of the development and distribution of coronavirus vaccines, according to new polling from Survation. (Photo by Andrew Milligan - WPA Pool/Getty Images)An overwhelming majority of Scots approve of the UK Government’s handling of the development and distribution of coronavirus vaccines, according to new polling from Survation. (Photo by Andrew Milligan - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
An overwhelming majority of Scots approve of the UK Government’s handling of the development and distribution of coronavirus vaccines, according to new polling from Survation. (Photo by Andrew Milligan - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Less than a quarter (24 per cent) of Scots aged between 16 and 24 gave Westminster a score of four or five out of five, compared with 79 per cent of over-65s.

Thirteen per cent of young people said the UK Government’s performance was “poor”, in contrast to 4 per cent of over-65s and 3 per cent of 55 to 64-year-olds.

Damian Lyons Lowe, chief executive of Survation, said it was too early to draw a conclusion on the impact of the the coronavirus recovery on support for Scottish independence.

He told The Scotsman: “The UK vaccination program, given it touches the lives of most Scots, may be a contributing factor to the tightening seen in independence polling in recent weeks.

One quarter (25 per cent) of the 1,011 adults polled gave the UK Government’s vaccine performance a score of five, while a further 35 per cent rated it as a four. (Photo by MIGUEL RIOPA/AFP via Getty Images)One quarter (25 per cent) of the 1,011 adults polled gave the UK Government’s vaccine performance a score of five, while a further 35 per cent rated it as a four. (Photo by MIGUEL RIOPA/AFP via Getty Images)
One quarter (25 per cent) of the 1,011 adults polled gave the UK Government’s vaccine performance a score of five, while a further 35 per cent rated it as a four. (Photo by MIGUEL RIOPA/AFP via Getty Images)
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Mr Lowe added: “The success ... relative to what we see going on in most EU countries, does provide for most Scots a perceived potential benefit of Brexit – and also therefore a benefit of Scotland being in the United Kingdom.”

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