The two main contenders to become Britain’s prime minister sparred Tuesday over tax, the cost of living and the country’s creaking health system in an inconclusive televised debate ahead of election day on July 4.
Conservative leader Rishi Sunak was hoping to boost his party’s dismal outlook, while Labour’s Keir Starmer aimed to cement his status as favorite. Both acknowledged the country’s many problems, from fraying public services to a broken immigration system. But neither could say outright, when asked, where they would find the money to fix them.
Sunak stressed his stewardship of the economy, which has seen inflation fall to just over 2% from a peak of more than 11% in late 2022. He said should stick with him because his “clear plan” for the economy was working.
Starmer said the election was a choice between more “chaos and division” with the Conservatives and “turning the page and rebuilding with Labour.”
Polls currently give center-left Labour a double-digit lead. To win, Starmer must persuade voters who previously backed the Tories that Labour can be trusted with the U.K.’s economy, borders and security.
Televised debates are a relatively recent addition to U.K. elections, first held in 2010. That debate spurred support for then-Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, triggering a wave of “Cleggmania” that helped propel him into the deputy prime minister post in a coalition government with the Conservatives.
No debate since has had the same impact, but they have become a regular feature of election campaigns. Several more are scheduled before polling day, some featuring multiple party leaders as well as the two front-runners.
Speaking in front of a live audience on a sleek, futuristic set at the studios of broadcaster ITV in Salford, northwest England, both Starmer and Sunak appeared nervous. Voters may have got the impression their choice is between two cautious and rather dull managers.
Both stuck to familiar themes. Sunak said Labour would raise taxes because “it’s in their DNA.”
Sunak said he would stop people making dangerous journeys to the U.K. in small boats by sending asylum-seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda, and suggested he’d be willing to take the U.K. out of the European Convention on Human Rights if its court blocked the deportations.
Starmer dwelled on the Conservatives’ record during 14 years in power, especially the chaotic last few years, which saw Prime Minister Boris Johnson ousted amid money and ethics scandals. Successor Liz Truss, elected by party members, rocked the economy with her uncosted tax-cutting plans and quit after 49 days. Sunak took over, without a national election, in October 2022.
“This government has lost control. Liz Truss crashed the economy,” Starmer said. “We cannot have five more years of this.”
A note of the personal crept in when Starmer took a dig at ex-banker Sunak’s wealth, saying his own father had been a factory worker and claiming Sunak did not understand the financial worries facing working-class people.
All 650 seats in the House of Commons are up for grabs on July 4. The leader of the party that can command a majority – either alone or in coalition – will become prime minister.
Farage, entering race, vows to be ‘bloody nuisance’
The debate came a day after populist firebrand Nigel Farage roiled the campaign, and dealt a blow to Sunak’s hopes, by announcing he will run for Parliament at the helm of the right-wing party Reform U.K.
Farage kicked off his campaign Tuesday in the eastern England seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea, where he is making an eighth attempt to win a seat in the House of Commons. His seven previous tries all failed.
The return of Farage, a key player in Britain’s 2016 decision to leave the European Union, is bad news for Sunak’s party. Farage and Reform look likely to siphon off votes of socially conservative older voters, a group the Tories have been targeting.
Leader of Reform UK Nigel Farage speaks to the media following the launch of his General Election campaign in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, England, Tuesday June 4, 2024. Mr Farage announced on Monday that he will stand for parliament in Clacton and lead Reform UK for the next five years. (James Manning/PA via AP).
Farage claimed the Conservatives, who have been in office since 2010, had “betrayed” Brexit supporters because immigration had gone up, rather than down, since the U.K. left the EU.
While Farage stands a decent chance of defeating Clacton’s Conservative incumbent and getting elected on July 4, he acknowledged that his larger goal is to lead the “real” opposition to a Labour Party government if the Conservatives lose.
Farage urged voters to “send me to Parliament to be a bloody nuisance.”
As he left a pub where he had been speaking to the media, Farage was splattered with a beverage, which appeared to be a milkshake, by a bystander. Essex Police said a 25-year-old woman from Clacton was arrested on suspicion of assault.