Following allegations of a Christmas party at 10 Downing Street during the Tier 3 lockdown in December 2020;

Emily Martyn, MPH, Healthcare Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view:

“‘Plan B’, which isn’t even out yet, is now in jeopardy as the poorly timed accusation may heavily disrupt government credibility.

“Historically, it has been shown that if members of the government are seen breaking the rules, the public will follow suit — colloquially known as the ‘Cummings effect’. Given this, it is possible that many members of the public will not follow Plan B rules, which will, in turn, lead to increased cases of the Omicron variant.

“The government must do more to repair public trust so that people can have a safe Christmas.”