Explainer
Rishi Sunak v Keir Starmer – what did we learn?
Five key areas where party leaders clashed in ITV
general election debate
Jessica
Elgot Deputy political editor
Tue 4 Jun
2024 23.47 CEST
What did we
learn about Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer when the two candidates went
head-to-head in the first TV debate of the election campaign?
Are we feeling the benefits?
The opening
question from Paula is one on the lips of voters in every constituency – she is
working herself into the ground but still cannot afford to live, spending
weekends batch-cooking to avoid turning on her oven at peak times.
She asked
both leaders what she should do – and it was stark that neither was truly able
to say. But Sunak’s words rang particularly hollow as he told Paula “the plan
is working” and said Paula was “only starting to feel the benefits”, which was
very far from what she had said.
It allowed
Starmer to draw a key dividing line with Sunak. “I don’t think the prime
minister understands the position that you and other people are in,” he said.
Tax
Starmer’s
biggest error of the debate was a comprehensive failure to challenge Sunak’s
assertion that Labour would impose £2,000 worth of tax rises. The figure comes
from costings by the Conservatives that say Labour has £38.5bn in spending
commitments – but Labour says those costings are based on false assertions.
Starmer
missed the opportunity 10 times to deny the £2,094 tax rise claim and ignored
Sunak’s repeating of that figure for the first quarter of the debate – and when
he finally engaged with it, he attempted a long explanation which did not start
with: “That’s not true.”
Labour’s
election coordinator Pat McFadden was forced to tweet in the middle of the
debate: “Rishi Sunak’s claims about Labour and tax are categorically untrue.
Labour will not put up taxes on working people.”
If Sunak’s
claim cuts through, it could be a damaging one and there will be questions
about why Starmer was not prepared enough to challenge it quickly and directly.
Migration
Starmer
appeared to suggest in the debate that he would consider offshore processing of
asylum seekers as long as it was compatible with international law and human
rights law. It is the first time the Labour leader has suggested that and there
will be questions over whether it was intended.
Labour has
a gap in its migration policy which Sunak highlighted – that the Illegal
Migration Act makes it impossible for those arriving across the Channel to
claim asylum – so what would happen to those who arrive?
But most
crucially, Sunak had no answer to the figures Starmer quoted – he has
previously promised to stop boats crossing the Channel but the figures are at
record levels.
Getting personal
The
animosity between the two leaders was extraordinary, with persistent
interruptions and personal jibes. Tax rises of £2,000, an amnesty for illegal
migrants – Sunak had plenty of questionable allegations that he wanted to land
on Starmer and the Labour leader’s tactic appeared to be to ignore rather than
rebut them.
Starmer,
too, launched a major attack on his opponent, accusing him of “betting against
Britain” in his early career at a hedge fund.
Sunak did
not deny it and doubled down, saying he would rather have had his job than have
been “defending extremists” – a reference to Starmer’s career as a human rights
lawyer.
Overall,
the audience seemed more predisposed to Starmer, especially on the economy and
the NHS. When Sunak mentioned his flagship national service policy, the
audience laughed.
Climate and net zero
Sunak
effectively tore up the policies followed by Conservative governments over the
past decade and rubbished measures such as heat pumps, electric cars and
renewable energy – which Tories have spent millions promoting and legislating
to encourage – saying such measures would cost “thousands of pounds” for each
household.
Starmer is
also exposed on the issue after the party’s U-turn on climate, where he rowed
back on a promise to spend £28bn. But Starmer was able to articulate what his
party would do to try to tackle the climate crisis, rather than dismissing it
as too expensive as Sunak did, stressing Labour’s key pledge of clean power by
2030.
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