Rishi Sunak uses TV debate to try to avert Tory electoral meltdown

Rishi Sunak has made a pugnacious last-ditch bid to try to avert electoral disaster for the Conservatives in next week’s general election, repeatedly urging voters in a television debate not to “surrender” the UK to Labour.

With new opinion polls pointing to a massive Labour majority, the prime minister came out fighting on Wednesday evening, insisting that Sir Keir Starmer would raise taxes, allow welfare spending to spiral and lose control of the country’s borders.

The Labour leader used the primetime debate on the BBC to seek to link the scandal on election betting affecting Tory candidates and officials with the prime minister’s past breach of Covid lockdown rules.

In fiery exchanges in the campaign’s last TV debate, Starmer said: “The prime minister was himself convicted and fined for breaking the rules.”

“You really shouldn’t be talking about integrity in politics,” he added.

The debate injected some rare passion into a lacklustre election campaign, with Sunak making it clear he was determined to go down fighting, comparing a vote for Labour to an act of “surrender”. A snap YouGov poll suggested viewers thought the debate was a 50-50 draw.

Sunak, in messages partly aimed at core Tory voters thinking of switching to Reform UK, said people should not surrender to Starmer on issues such as border control and welfare. He concluded: “If you’re not certain about Labour, don’t surrender to them.”

The head-to-head debate in Nottingham was Sunak’s last chance in a set-piece event to try to turn around a Conservative campaign which — according to polls — is heading for a disaster on July 4.

Sunak’s campaign has been beset by errors and is now mired in a row about Tory candidates and officials placing wagers on the election. Starmer has conducted a low-risk campaign, which appears to be paying off.

One new MRP mega-poll on Wednesday suggested Labour was on course to win 450 seats, giving it a House of Commons majority of 250, with the Tories reduced to only 60 MPs, fewer than the Liberal Democrats on 71.

Under that dramatic scenario, Sir Ed Davey’s Lib Dems would become the official opposition, while Nigel Farage’s Reform UK would pick up 18 seats.

The Find Out Now and Electoral Calculus poll painted an unusually pessimistic picture for the Conservatives, and Tory candidates with majorities of more than 20,000 — once seen as safe seats — admitted they were at risk. “I could easily lose,” said one.

The MRP poll suggested that if the results were replicated on July 4, Sunak and deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden would be among those to lose their seats.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer during BBC debate

I think, over the last 14 years, politics has become too much about self-entitlement and MPs thinking about what they can get for themselves. And one of the important choices and the thing that I would like to do if I'm elected prime minister is to reset politics so that politics returns to public service.

When we found things that were not appropriate, I took action and suspended the candidates. I've been crystal clear. I was furious to hear about these things. That's why I've dealt with it.

--leadership, and he talks about integrity. I'm sorry, when you get convicted for breaking the COVID rules which you imposed on the rest of the country, you really shouldn't be talking about integrity in politics.

Rishi Sunak?

Well, leadership means being straight with people about what you plan to do. I've set out my plans clearly. And I appreciate, actually, that not everyone's going to agree with me on everything, but at least you know where I stand. Now, Keir Starmer is not being straight with you about his plans to raise your taxes. I don't think that's leadership. I don't think that people should surrender their family finances to the Labour Party, and that's the choice for people at this election.

You literally opposed it.

If you listen to people in the audience, across the country more often, you might not be quite so out of touch.

So it's one thing to stand here and say all these things. You should at least be upfront with people. You don't think my approach is the right one. You are going to have higher welfare under you, and that's why you can't deliver tax cuts the way that I can.

But the prime minister said--

And people should not surrender to this.

Now, I've worked with criminal gangs, Rishi Sunak. I know that they are telling the people they're exploiting there's a 99% chance of not going to Rwanda. That is not a disincentive. That is not a deterrent, and it's not working. If it were working, why are record numbers still coming under your watch, Prime Minister? How on earth can you say it's working?

Well, do you know where these people come from?

No, he's not answering the question. You can see that.

Do you know where they come from? Iran.

You can see.

Syria. Afghanistan. So when Keir Starmer says he's going to return people, is he going to sit down-- are you going to sit down with the Iranian ayatollahs? Are you going to try and do a deal with the Taliban? It's completely nonsensical what you are saying. Right? You are taking people for fools. Two years ago, I warned repeatedly about what Liz Truss's economic policies would do to our country, even if it wasn't what people wanted to hear at the time.

I was right then, and that's why you can trust me now. That's why you can trust me now when I say that the Labour Party's policies will mean all your taxes are going to go up by thousands of pounds.

His election pitch to you seems to be, my predecessor, a Tory prime minister, broke the country, did huge economic damage, please vote Tory.

We need to hear this response.

I think you should show some respect to the audience, who want to know what I've got to say about this without constantly being interrupted. It really isn't the way to do the debate.

What's the answer to the question about whether you'll match what they're going to do on pension?

As Labour always do, they run out of everyone's money. They bankrupt the economy in 2010. They've bankrupted Birmingham. They've bankrupted Nottingham. And that's why everyone in Birmingham is paying a 20% higher council tax. So that is just an appetiser of the higher taxes that are going to come under a future Labour government.

Conservative councils in exactly the same problem. What do you say about that? And I have to say, the prime minister gloating about the fact that councils are struggling and the impact that you know--

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

--relation to the EU. I did vote to remain. I campaigned to remain. But we left, and we've left the EU. We're not going back to the EU. But I do not accept that we can't get a better deal than the one that we've got.

You might be able to. But you know what the price of it will be? It will be free movement of people. And that's what Keir Starmer's not being straight with you about. And if you are not certain about Labour , don't surrender to them. Don't vote for any other party. Vote Conservative.

If you want to end 14 years of chaos and rebuild our country, then that power is in your hands. On July the 4th, vote change, vote Labour.

Thank you very much.

[APPLAUSE]

A separate WeThink MRP survey for the Economist put Labour on 465 seats, the Tories on 76, Lib Dems on 52 and Reform on 3. Under that scenario, Starmer would enjoy a 280-seat majority.

During the debate, which took place against the background of a noisy pro-Palestinian protest, Sunak repeatedly returned to migration, claiming that if Starmer tried to negotiate a better trade deal for the UK with the EU “the price would be free movement”.

Starmer insisted he would not accept free movement, but said: “I don’t accept we can’t get a better deal than we’ve got. I want a better deal on trade relations with the EU.”

Sunak also won applause — in short supply in previous TV debates — for claiming that Starmer would try to negotiate a returns deals for illicit migrants with the Taliban or Iranian ayatollahs.

Starmer said he would process the asylum claims of those in Britain who, under Sunak’s new migration regime, cannot have their applications assessed.

Starmer claimed it would take “300 years” to remove them to Rwanda as Sunak has proposed.

Meanwhile, the two leaders faced questions about the “gamblegate” row in which the Conservatives only belatedly disowned two candidates over allegations related to bets on the election date.

Starmer immediately suspended a Labour candidate, Kevin Craig, for betting that he would lose the Central Suffolk and North Ipswich seat he is contesting.

The Gambling Commission, which is looking into betting irregularities, said it was “focused on an investigation in relation to bets placed on the date of the election where individuals may have had confidential information”.

Additional reporting by Eri Sugiura and Robert Wright

Rishi Sunak uses TV debate to try to avert Tory electoral meltdown

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