Rishi Sunak branded ‘determined’ over weekly election TV debates plea

Keir Starmer has branded Rishi Sunak “increasingly desperate” over the PM’s call for weekly General Election TV debates.

It came as the Tory leader used a column to accuse the Labour leader of lacking the “courage” to face him in six head-to-head showdowns. Conservative chairman Richard Holden also claimed Mr Starmer was “chickening out” of debates – despite him saying five months ago he was “happy to debate” the PM.

Speaking today, Mr Starmer denied he was dodging debates, saying they are “a big part of election campaigns and there will be debates in these elections – you can bet on that”.

He added: “Whether it’s 1 debate or 100 debates the argument is going to be exactly the same because we do them every Wednesday at Prime Ministers’ Questions. He will stand there saying everything is fine.”

Televised leaders’ debates first featured in the 2010 campaign – when there were three – featuring Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg. It is understood Labour has agreed to take part in two head-to-head showdowns during the six-week election campaign – to be aired on the BBC and ITV.

A party source told the BBC: “Labour will not be tearing up the format established in previous elections just to suit this week’s whims of the Tory Party.”

Mr Starmer added today: “He [Mr Sunak] is sounding increasingly desperate, I have to say.Of course there are going to be TV debates. They are part and parcel of the election cycle now. I obviously want to spend as much of my time talking to voters directly. I can do a hundred debates with Rishi Sunak, but I know what he is going to say, he is going to say everything is fine, the cost-of-living crisis is over, the health service hasn’t got any problems.That is all he ever says.”

Mr Sunak last took part in live televised debates during the 2022 Tory leadership contest – a race he lost to 49-day PM Liz Truss by around 20,000 votes. The row over the TV debates came as the Tories’ came after Mr Sunak was accused of running scared of scrutiny as he launched his party’s election effort.

At a campaign event on Thursday it emerged a seemingly random man quizzing the PM during a “staff Q&A” at a distribution centre in Derbyshire was actually a Tory councillor.

During the session he was asked about immigration by a man in an orange high-visibility jacket. It later transpired that the audience member was Dr Ross Hills, a Conservative councillor on Leicestershire County Council. Journalists and TV viewers were not made aware that Dr Hills is an elected Tory member.

A Labour Party spokesman said: “Rishi Sunak spent months dodging the verdict of voters and even now he’s still running scared.”