SCOTS have far more confidence in Nicola Sturgeon’s government being able to prevent a resurgence of coronavirus than in Boris Johnson’s, according to a new poll.

Sixty-two per cent of Scottish respondents believed Holyrood ministers were capable of preventing a second wave of Covid-19, compared to just 38% who said they were confident in the UK Government doing so.

The survey findings are among the preliminary results from the UK-wide CovidLife survey, launched last month by the University of Edinburgh’s Generation Scotland project.

Asked about the Scottish Government’s ability to avoid a further outbreak, 9% said they were very confident, 53% somewhat confident, 27% not very confident and 10% not confident at all.

The poll surveyed 11,686 people in Scotland with wider figures including a further 640 respondents in England.

Just 3% of all the respondents were very confident the UK Government can prevent a second wave, 34% somewhat confident, 40% not very confident, and 23% not confident at all.

The survey period was April 17 to May 7, when both governments were saying “Stay at home”.

A majority of respondents across the UK (85%) said “stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives” was clear advice, with 65% also saying it was an appropriate measure.

Professor David Porteous, of CovidLife, said the Scottish survey volunteers were “markedly less confident” in Westminster’s ability than Holyrood’s, even when both governments had the same message.

He said: “It will be very interesting to see how that level of confidence is affected now that Westminster has changed its message to ‘Stay alert, control the virus, save lives’.”

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack yesterday admitted Boris Johnson caused confusion over Covid-19 by announcing an easing of the lockdown on UK-wide TV without explaining the measures only applied to England.

The Prime Minister said the key message had been changed from “Stay at home” to “Stay alert”, despite Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland keeping “Stay at home”.

Mr Jack told the Scottish Affairs Select Committee: “It did cause some confusion.

“The broadcast on the Sunday evening, I think we’ve all accepted that could have been more specific but the UK Government was very quick to make the position clear immediately afterwards.”

SNP MP Mhairi Black, who extracted the admission of confusion from Mr Jack, said: “Tackling the coronavirus crisis is difficult for all governments, and mistakes will be made - but it is vital that the devolved governments are properly consulted on future changes, and that the UK government makes it crystal clear when its announcements only apply to England.

“An effective four nation approach, with clear public health messages, requires the UK government to consult devolved governments and show respect where there are differences.

“Too often the UK government has sprung announcements through media briefings and failed to provide clear messages - this has to stop. Future changes and messages must respect all four nations.”