Conservative councillors across Cumbria have weighed in on Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision not to sack senior advisor Dominic Cummings.

Mr Cummings was forced to defend a trip from London to Durham and a subsequent visit to Barnard Castle last month despite the coronavirus lockdown, which he claimed was because of concerns about childcare for his four-year-old-son.

David Moore, who is the deputy mayor of Copeland Council and a Conservative councillor for Gosforth and Seascale, agreed with the PM’s decision not to sack him ,but admitted that he struggled to accept the trip to and from Barnard Castle.

“Should he resign? No,” he said. “Has he made an error of judgement? Yes, I think he has, and the best thing he could have done was to hold his hands up and say that.”

Conservative Tony Annison, who represents Warnell on Allerdale Council, said he was no fan of the PM or Mr Cummings but felt that much of the attention was because of a “blame culture hysteria”.

“It is totally disproportionate to what has happened,” he said. “Let’s face it, he hasn’t even had a £60 fine.”

Joan Raine, a Conservative on Eden Council, said: “It isn’t something I would do, I don’t think, but then again I haven’t got a four-year-old child.”

Outside of the Conservative Party, the reception has been less supportive, with the West Cumbria Liberal Democrats calling for Mr Cummings to resign from his position.

Rebecca Hanson, who is a county councillor for Cockermouth and a spokeswoman for the group, said: “People right across west Cumbria have made incredible sacrifices to stop the coronavirus.

“Even if the Prime Minister keeps his blinkers on, Mark Jenkinson and Trudy Harrison cannot be oblivious to how angry people are with this scandal.

“Each minute this scandal is allowed to drag on is another minute the Government is distracted from upscaling Britain’s testing capacity, securing PPE for frontline workers and preventing the tragic deaths in our care homes.”