Fighting for his first televised debate in the campaign British legislator the hitherto rather boring Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Labor opponent Keir Starmer clashed on Tuesday, June 4, over purchasing power, health and even immigration.
Will this duel change the order of things a month before an election in which the Labor Party has been a clear winner in the polls for months? None of the candidates announced loudly or sided with the opponent in this first exciting meeting, but without surprises.
“I have a concrete plan” to “turn the page” on 14 years of conservative governments, he launched in his short opening speech. Keir Starmer, was the first to speak in a room in Salford, near Manchester (northern England), where the debate was organized.
“I have a clear plan for a more secure future” for the British, Rishi Sunak continued, praising the recent improvement in the economic situation and accusing his opponent of wanting to raise taxes on the British.
The program will be specified. Coming to power 19 months ago to bring stability after Liz Truss’s brief stint in Downing Street, Rishi Sunak, 44, has once again taken up the role of sensible manager.
On the other hand, voters waiting for the 61-year-old Labor leader, who refocused the Labor Party after the departure of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, to further clarify his agenda must have wanted more.
“To stand there and say I’m going to solve (this problem). That’s not the plan,” Rishi Sunak attacked when the two candidates were questioned about their proposals to reduce waiting lists in the public health system.
“Keir Starmer is asking you to sign him a blank check without telling you what it’s going to buy and how much it’s going to cost you. ”, he insisted in his conclusion.
Criticized rating. Faced with him, the Labor leader did not fail to once again criticize the results of 14 years of Conservative government, accusing the Prime Minister of wanting to absolve himself of guilt.
“I know that the Prime Minister has already said… that he does not want to have anything to do with the last 14 years. Sorry, Mr. Prime Minister, you may want to get rid of it, but everyone lives with this record, he said.
Same thing with immigration, “too high”, according to the Prime Minister, who defended his own they plan to deport migrants to Rwanda.
A controversial project that Labor has promised to abandon if it comes to power. “Who is in power? he retorted Keir Starmer, which promises a tougher attack on groups of smugglers who transport thousands of migrants across the Channel in small boats. “I do not claim that I have a magic wand that will solve everything immediately,” he insisted in his conclusion.
The prime minister, a millionaire former investment banker accused by some of being out of touch with the reality of ordinary Britons, tried to show that he understood people’s problems.
“I know how much the last few years have strained your finances,” he told an audience member who asked him about the cost-of-living crisis. “He lives in a different world,” said Keir Starmer.
A surprise candidate. A few hours before the debate, Nigel Farage, the surprise candidate of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, stole the limelight by launching his campaign from Clacton-on-Sea (South East).
At the age of 60, this extreme right-wing “Brexiter”, close to former US President Donald Trump, called for the “reactivation of the people’s army against the establishment”.
His candidacy a few hours before the debate further weakened Rishi Sunak, the leader of a party weakened and divided after five consecutive prime ministers, Brexit, Covid, economic and social crisis, all punctuated by scandals.