02 March 2023 , 21:00
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Half of voters want an immediate public inquiry into the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, a poll showed tonight.
Revelations from leaked WhatsApp messages sent and received by ex-Health Secretary Matt Hancock during the coronavirus crisis - dubbed the “Lockdown Files” - have renewed calls for the probe led by Baroness Hallett to be speeded up.
A People Polling survey for GB News found 50% of the public supports an immediate inquiry, with just 13% against.
Among Labour voters, 70% want an immediate investigation compared with just 44% of Conservative voters.
The poll of 1,500 adults was carried out on Wednesday following The Daily Telegraph’s story.
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Politics expert Professor Matthew Goodwin said: “Amid the Lockdown Files, we find clear strong public support for an immediate inquiry into the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Coronavirus under the microscope (Getty Images)“Half the country, including a large majority of Labour voters, want to see this, while only a small minority are opposed.”.
The study also found 60% of people think ministers were right to order a nationwide lockdown when coronavirus hit Britain.
Just 15% said it was the wrong decision
Prof Goodwin added: “While more questions are rightly being asked about the decisions taken during the pandemic, most voters remain convinced that the lockdown was the right decision.
“About one in eight voters, a significant share, think lockdowns were the wrong decision, though clearly, they remain in a minority."
It comes amid the continuing fallout from the cache of leaked WhatsApp messages sent and received by Mr Hancock.
The journalist who handed tens of thousands of his messages to The Daily Telegraph today warned him to get into a fight with her.
The former Health Secretary - who quit the Cabinet in June 2021 after having an extramarital affair with his aide and groping her in his office in breach of lockdown guidelines - moaned that he was the victim of a "massive betrayal and breach of trust" after Isabel Oakeshott revealed texts he gave her when she was helping him write his book.
Political journalist Isabel Oakeshott (GC Images)Today, she insisted she made "no apology whatsoever for acting in the national interest" by disclosing the messages.
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Ms Oakeshott said: "Hard though it may be for him to believe, this isn't about Matt Hancock, or indeed any other individual politician - nor is it about me.
“The greatest betrayal is of the entire country.
"We were all let down by the response to the pandemic and repeated unnecessary lockdowns.”
She added: “If Matt Hancock wants to enter into an ugly fight with me, then that would be an interesting judgement on his part, I wouldn't advise it.”
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