Conservative councillors in Copeland have backed Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision not to sack senior adviser Dominic Cummings, despite being in two minds over some of his actions.

Mr Cummings was forced to defend a trip from London to Durham last month despite the coronavirus lockdown, which he claimed was to stay in a cottage on his family's farm because of concerns about childcare for his four-year-old-son if he and his wife were incapacitated by the virus.

He faced questions on Monday about whether he regretted the drive and a subsequent visit to Barnard Castle which he argued was to test his eyesight, but did not apologise, and the PM repeated his support of his aide following the press conference.

David Moore, who is the deputy mayor of Copeland Council and a Conservative councillor for Gosforth and Seascale, said he believed that Mr Cummings had been trying to put his family first with his decision to travel to Durham to self-isolate.

Coun Moore agreed with the PM's decision not to sack him because he felt he still had a part to play in tackling coronavirus.

However, he admitted that he struggled to accept the defence of the trip to and from Barnard Castle.

"The facts of the self-isolation, I am very comfortable with," he said.

"But I still struggle with that Barnard Castle element.

"If you are not sure that you can drive, you shouldn't be driving.

"Should he resign? No. 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.

"I have found just picking up the chatter that's going on from people I know that people are generally supportive of him."

Graham Roberts, who is a Conservative county councillor for Bransty, said he was prepared to give Mr Cummings "the benefit of the doubt".

He said: "Everybody can make a mistake and in hindsight we can all do a lot of things differently.

"He was placed in a very difficult position and he was trying to do his best, I think."

Outside of the Conservative Party, the reception has been less supportive, with the West Cumbria Liberal Democrats calling for Mr Cummings to resign and writing an open letter to Mark Jenkinson and Trudy Harrison, Conservative MPs for Workington and Copeland respectively.

Rebecca Hanson, who is a county councillor for Cockermouth and a spokesperson for the group, said: “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.

“Mark Jenkinson and Trudy Harrison must stop defending the indefensible and put the health, wellbeing and economy of our country before efforts to save the Prime Minister’s adviser.”