Labour and the unions are becoming increasingly aggressive in their criticism of the Conservative government
announced lockdown on March 23rd, he was supported by Sir Keir Starmer, front-runner to be Labour leader, and the governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A furlough scheme to allow workers to be kept on in their jobs was designed with trade unions’ assent. More than 90% of voters backed the shutdown; the support was consistent across parties and around the country.
Harassment from the right focuses on hostility to the lockdown. Ardent Brexiteers and climate-change sceptics have reunited around the issue, and are attacking the model from Imperial College London on which the government based its decision to shut the economy down as a “buggy mess”. A Toryapprovingly compares the row to that over the validity of climate-change forecasts that engulfed the University of East Anglia a decade ago.
Voters, too, are dividing. Britain is not seeing the same deep polarisation as America, where a deep partisan split over whether the virus was dangerous or not appeared swiftly. There is little support outside the Conservative back benches for an immediate reopening of schools and pubs, and Britons of all parties tell pollsters they are worried by the virus. But their views about the future and the government’s response are shaped by party allegiance.
A belief that people should be free to take risks has long been part of the Conservative cause. But tribalism probably helps explain the split, too. When faced with complex questions—such as how to loosen a lockdown, or what trade policy to pursue after Brexit—uncertain voters form their views based on prompts from the political elites they like, such as politicians, trade unions or newspapers, says Professor Ford. Those signals have been getting stronger in recent weeks.
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