Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer faced derision from voters during a live TV event, with the prime minister mocked over his record in No 10 and the Labour leader accused of being a “political robot”.
The men were grilled over their broken promises by the Sky presenter Beth Rigby, as Sunak was put under the spotlight about his failure to meet his five pledges and Starmer was pressed on having ditched his leftwing policies.
But the audience gave the politicians a harder time. One former Conservative chair said she was undecided how to vote because she was “ashamed” of the government’s record, highlighting the prime minister’s decision to send David Cameron to attend the last part of D-day commemorations in France.
Sunak reiterated his apology but the voter came back to say the “trust broke down” during the Covid pandemic when Boris Johnson and Sunak were fined for breaking rules at parties in Downing Street.
Another voter told Sunak he had spent eight hours on a stretcher in A&E. Sunak highlighted his NHS background and insisted that he was “investing record amounts and training record doctors and nurses”, as well as innovating in hospitals to bring down waiting times.
A voter interjected angrily to say building more hubs were “not going to cure the problem” because of staff shortages. The prime minister was jeered by the audience after he brought up the striking junior doctors as a reason for long NHS waiting lists, referring to one such medic in the audience who had asked a question to Starmer.
A young audience member asked the prime minister whether young people could trust that he had their best interests at heart because of the policy to introduce national service compared with the new “triple lock-plus” offering to pensioners, asking why the Conservatives were “moving so far away” from the generation who will be the future.
Sunak was heckled by a further questioner asking if he would “set a generation of young people up with a criminal record” by punishing those who did not take part – with the prime minister saying this would not happen. He was also grilled by Rigby over broken public services, long NHS waiting lists and high migration figures.
“Of course, I understand people’s frustrations, it has been a very difficult few years … but this election now is about the future and I do believe we have turned a corner,” Sunak said.
When voters questioned the Labour leader, Starmer was put on the spot about whether he would pay doctors more to end the junior doctors’ strike, and told the NHS worker that the country “cannot afford” a 35% pay rise for them.
Another voter asked him to reconsider his policy of adding VAT to private school fees, with Starmer responding that schools are facing staff shortages and that “every parent has aspiration”, drawing applause.
The most hostile question came from a voter who asked how he could convince people that he was not a “political robot”. Starmer hesitated before answering that “trying to serve the public” was a “constant theme”. The voter said he still had doubts about Starmer because he was not answering the questions.
In his conversation with Rigby, the Labour leader was pressed on his past support for making Jeremy Corbyn prime minister, which he justified by saying he “never believed” his predecessor would get into No 10.
He was also challenged over his decision to ditch leftwing pledges from his leadership manifesto, including scrapping tuition fees, nationalising energy companies and taxing the wealthiest more.
Starmer said he had abandoned these policies after “asking myself, honestly, are these country first, party second?” and realising the answer was no.
Ahead of Thursday’s Labour manifesto launch, he said it had not been possible to include many policies that some Labour supporters want, including an end to the two-child benefit cap. He said leaving this out of the manifesto had been a “difficult choice”, but drew applause for saying the “easiest thing in the world would be unfunded promises”.
The audience laughed, however, when Starmer mentioned once again that his father was a “toolmaker”, prompting the Labour leader to say the family’s hardship had not been a laughing matter.
A snap YouGov poll after the debate found just under two-thirds of viewers thought Starmer performed better, while just over a third favoured Sunak.
