Parties set for BBC debate conflict amid Rishi Sunak D-Day row – dwell
Representatives from the UK’s major parties are set to clash over the cost of living crisis, the state of the NHS and immigration in tonight’s BBC election debate.
Labour’s Angela Rayner is likely to put ‘change’ at the heart of her message while Penny Mordaunt will hope to turn around the Conservative’s dire fortunes and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage will aim to take chunks out of the Tories over immigration.
Daisy Cooper for the Liberal Democrats, the SNP’s Stephen Flynn, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer and Plaid Cymru’s Rhun ap Iorwerth will complete tonight’s line up. All representatives will face-off against one another and will take questions from the BBC audience.
Moderated by Mishal Hussein, the debate will start at 7.30pm on BBC One and BBC News and will end at 9pm. At the end of the debate, each party representative will give a 30-second closing statement.
Rishi Sunak is this morning being urged to come clean over why he left the D-Day commemorations early.
Mr Sunak attended Franco-British commemorations at Ver-sur-Mer in Normandy on Thursday, which were also attended by Keir Starmer, King Charles, Queen Camilla, and French President Emmanuel Macron. Appearing alongside his wife Akshata Murthy, Mr Sunak told veterans: “We owe you everything.”
But he did not attend the high-profile ceremony at Omaha beach in the afternoon and instead headed back to the UK for an interview with ITV.
Tonight’s crunch debate comes as the Conservatives consistently trail Labour in numerous polls. A bombshell survey from Redfield & Wilton confirmed the Nigel Farage effect for Rishi Sunak after a YouGov poll on Wednesday night also put the Tories just two points ahead of Reform UK for the first time.
Mr Sunak’s Conservatives also had to deal with uncomfortable events after one of its candidates quit over lurid sexual comments about women as well as facing a grilling about accepting another £5.1million from a businessman embroiled in a race row.
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Fury after Rishi Sunak skips D-Day event
Furious military figures blasted Rishi Sunak for skipping a major D-Day ceremony and leaving British veterans behind to record a TV interview.
The Prime Minister has been urged to come clean over whether he ducked out of the sombre commemorations in a desperate bid to revive his flagging campaign.
Fury after Rishi Sunak skips D-Day event with world leaders to do TV interview
