PEOPLE in Somerset have reacted to the Prime Minister's senior adviser Dominic Cummings' press conference yesterday.

On a sunny bank holiday Monday afternoon, Mr Cummings - reacting to numerous reports of him breaching the coronavirus lockdown to drive his family 260 miles to stay at a property on his family's County Durham estate - defended his actions.

He admitted making the drive, despite his wife displaying symptoms of Covid-19, saying he did so as he feared if he caught the disease, they may not be able to care for their four-year-old child.

He said he does not regret his actions and declined to apologise and had not considered resigning, despite public outrage at his actions.

Mr Cummings' defence of his actions failed to win over some newspapers, with the right-leaning Daily Mail and the left-leaning Daily Mirror running almost identical headlines stating: "No apology, no regrets."

Outlining his trip to the North East, the adviser told reporters how his wife, the journalist Mary Wakefield, fell ill on March 27 - leading him to swiftly leave Number 10 to return home.

After a couple of hours, she felt better and Mr Cummings went back to Downing Street.

But that evening he said he discussed the situation with his wife - including the fact that many in Number 10 had developed coronavirus symptoms.

Mr Cummings said he was worried that if they both fell ill, there was "nobody in London we could reasonably ask to look after our child and expose themselves to Covid".

The family drove to Durham that evening and did not stop on the way, he said.

READ MORE: Somerset MP calls for Dominic Cummings to go

They stayed in an "isolated property" on his father's farm, where the following day he woke up in pain and "clearly had Covid symptoms".

Mr Cummings said that by April 11 he was still feeling "weak and exhausted" but had no coronavirus symptoms, so thought he would be able to return to work the following week - possibly part-time.

But he said that because his eyesight had been affected by the disease, his wife did not want to risk the long drive back to London, so they went on a "short drive" to Barnard Castle - around 25 miles away from where he was isolating.

"We did not visit the castle, we did not walk around the town," he insisted, but said that he had felt a "bit sick" so they had walked about 10 to 15 metres to the riverbank where they sat for about 15 minutes until he felt better.

The family returned to London on April 13, and he went back to work the next day, Mr Cummings said.

In the hour-long press conference, he declined to apologise for his actions, but conceded that "reasonable people may well disagree about how I thought about what to do in the circumstances".

However, he said: "I don't regret what I did... I think what I did was actually reasonable in these circumstances. The rules made clear that if you are dealing with small children that can be exceptional circumstances.

"And I think that the situation that I was in was exceptional circumstances, and the way that I dealt with it was the least risk to everybody concerned if my wife and I had both been unable to look after our four-year-old."

There has been widespread outrage over his actions, however, with countless families coming forward to tell their stories of enduring the lockdown, unaware that a 'loophole' existed allowing parents' discretion.

Your County Gazette asked for the reaction of readers to the press conference - and whether it had changed their view that Mr Cummings broke the lockdown.

Here are some of your views:

Tissues For Men: "Finding his wife ill at home, why did he go back to work?"

Bonny Banks: "He drove 60 miles to and from a beauty spot on his wife's birthday in order to test his eyes. Does he take us for fools?"

Aljan2: "It's a political witch hunt nothing more."

milverman: "This is not news, this is a waste of everyone's time. The press were vicious and clearly had an agenda."

Most Interesting: "Why is it that with these people 'in power' you often get the 'do as I say but don't do as I do'. People in these positions should always be seen as being 'squeaky clean' and if they aren't, at least put their hands up."

Do you have a reaction to Mr Cummings' actions - and his defence? Let us know in the comments section below, email us, or find us on Facebook and Twitter