Overwhelming public assist for Tier 4 regardless of criticism of presidency’s dealing with of disaster

More than 70 per cent of the public support Boris Johnson’s new tighter tier 4 restrictions, according to a YouGov poll.

Some 74 per cent said they supported the introduction of tier 4 for parts of England, including 48 per cent who said they strongly support it. Only 17 per cent said they were opposed to it.

There was also sizeable support for the Christmas rule changes (67 per cent) while only 25 per cent were opposed to them.  

The poll was carried out after Boris Johnson announced at a press conference yesterday that millions of people would be urged to “stay at home” after a spike in the number of cases across London and the southeast of England.

Mr Johnson announced that non-essential shops and gyms would close, and that that all areas of east and southeast England that had been in tier 3 would go into the newly defined tier 4 from today.

Tier 4 effectively returns residents to the rules in place during the national lockdown.

Those in tiers 1, 2, and 3 are now only able to mix with other households for a Christmas celebration on 25 December instead of the longer stretch initially planned by the government.

The YouGov poll showed support for the new restrictions across all major party voters, and that the older Britons are, the more likely they are to support the new rules.

However 61 per cent said they think the Government has badly handled the issue of COVID-19 rules around Christmas, and only 33 per cent said they have handled it well.