‘Hyperbolic messaging’ eroding public trust in UK's Covid response

Report says recovery efforts are undermined by ministers' tendency to over-promise and under-deliver

Hyperbolic and confused government messaging on Covid-19 has eroded trust among the public and helped created a sense of disconnection between Westminster and those managing the pandemic at a local level, according to a report by Whitehall advisers.

The C-19 National Foresight Group highlighted ministers' tendency to over-promise and under-deliver, and the erratic, often late-night timing of key pandemic announcements - often without prior consultation or warning - as examples of poor communications that were undermining Covid recovery efforts.