Starmer v Sunak VERDICT: MailOnline panel say Rishi ‘near tears’

Rishi Sunak endured a bruising night in the Sky News studio on Wednesday as he was grilled by the broadcaster’s political editor Beth Rigby.

The Prime Minister, and leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer, both took half an hour of questions from the journalist before facing further interrogation by a studio audience.

A snap poll deepened Mr Sunak’s recent woes as it found the Labour leader won the debate by 64% to 36% – with Sir Keir coming across as more trustworthy, likeable, in touch with ordinary people and prime ministerial.

MailOnline’s panel of readers, who have been called upon to provide verdicts after each televised debate on the campaign, appeared to echo those thoughts, with the majority of viewers believing Sir Keir wiped the floor with Mr Sunak. 

‘I don’t think Rishi Sunak was convincing enough’: Business owner Eldon Davis, 45, from London

‘The debate tonight was very interesting. The PM was challenged on a lot of big issues like small boats and junior doctors strikes, which are all things he has not delivered on.

‘But he has been in power and actually had to deal with those in the last few years. 

‘But I don’t think Rishi Sunak was convincing enough. He tried but I really don’t think he hit the mark. 

‘For him to turn it around and win he should be a lot more convincing on those sort of things tonight. 

‘My feeling today is that this feels like an inevitable defeat for the Conservatives – Kier doesn’t need to do anything revolutionary to win. He has done a good job showing his empathy and relatability to the voters and because he hasn’t been in power and has had success in his CPS role he is in a good place. 

‘The real blot is his change of opinion around Jeremy Corbyn which was exposed today. He has talked about change reforming the party putting the UK first tackling the Maths teacher issue and helping the NHS. 

‘At times today, he was on the ropes regarding the matter of wealth and fuel tax and he sidestepped these and was able to hide behind the manifesto tomorrow. In terms of helping businesses, I didn’t see a clear set of policies or ideas that would benefit me as a small business owner. He said he would listen and give more power locally to towns for funding. 

‘But there wasn’t a captivating set of policies he left me wondering what he could do to woo the middle class and business owners which is something which Tony Blair was able to do. He was trying to appeal to this group in terms of rhetoric but I didn’t see substance. 

‘My concern regarding UK energy seems like an interesting idea but how has it been costed and will this drive improvements or be an experiment? 

‘He took a hard line on the VAT line for private schools and justified that he would put this money into teacher recruitment. I feel this may be an issue for some of the lower middle class and upper working class in Ealing who wanted to do better for the children it may be a vote loss in this group. 

‘On the whole, he didn’t do anything bad that impacted the confidence of the electorate in him today played it safe. It was very soap box of detergent-style politics and wasn’t unique or a fresh approach.’ 

‘Rishi Sunak seemed close to tears’: Geography student Roshini Jaan, 19, from west London 

The first time voter, 19, who will be ‘backing Labour all the way’ said she was impressed by Keir Starmer’s ‘drive to connect with local communities.’

Geography student Roshini, in her first year at the University of Nottingham and with hopes of working for the United Nation, said: ‘He makes me want to trust him, knowing he wants to connect with communities and see things first hand.

‘He was talking about Grimsby which has high rates of child poverty, lower income and other issues.

‘He is honest about his policies, like when the young doctor asked a question, he said we cant raise their wages.’

On Rishi Sunak, she added: ‘He was struggling tonight, he looked very nervous and seemed close to tears.

‘It was quite appalling that he didn’t even know the migration figures, and shows a lot of district for the Tories. A lot of lies are being thrown around on taxes.

‘When he was asked about police, racism, misogyny he was completely dismissing what the woman in the audience was saying, which I didn’t like,

‘He was not admitting that there are a lot of systematic issues with the police force.’

‘For someone who speaks so much about cutting down on migration and immigration, it was quite appalling that [Mr Sunak] didn’t even know the net migration figures.

‘I think it shows a lot of distrust in the Tories, and there was also a lot of lies being thrown around. He was saying that the percentage of boats has gone down this year, when in reality there has actually been a 40 per cent increase.

‘I think there’s a lot of false promises and lies being thrown about on his part.

‘One thing I did like was the Help To Buy loan, as being a young person I think the idea of buying a house in this economy is scary.’

‘A difficult evening for the Prime Minister’: Student Archie Parker-Goff, 21, from Chester 

‘I think that has to be described as a relatively difficult evening for the Prime Minister. 

‘At the start of his interview […] he was reminded of his mistake of leaving the D-Day gathering earlier this week. I think that is very clearly in the public’s mind and although he apologised I think he’s struggling to get past it.

‘I think a lot of the audience responded coolly to the Prime Minister, so I think he’ll reflect on that as a difficult evening.’

‘Rishi Sunak had a tough night in Grimsby’: Final year medical student Jon Craven, 23, from Norfolk 

‘Rishi Sunak has had a very tough night in Grimsby. 

‘He definitely needed some kind of game changer, something to give his campaign new life, and I think he just hasn’t really delivered that. He looked quite flat and at times quite tetchy with the audience. 

‘I think what was really lacking from the Prime Minister’s performance was some kind of central vision. 

‘It was very hard to put your finger on what he stands for – what the overall message is. I think the hardest moments for the Prime Minister came from the audience. It seemed quite a hostile crowd, and he really struggled to defend his government’s record at times.’ 

‘The moderator was slightly softer on Sunak’: Lawyer Benedict Sharrock-Harris, 32 

‘We haven’t learnt anything particularly new. The moderator, I would say, was slightly softer on Sunak. In particular, not pushing at all on his first two pledges with regards to halving inflation and getting the economy growing. 

‘In particular, the obvious push on the inflation point is, if they’re responsible for reducing it, surely they’re responsible for it having grown in the first place. 

‘I would say that actually, the biggest surprise of the evening came from the audience’s reaction when Beth Rigby asked about the lies with regard to Brexit. 

‘The applause was fairy rapturous, which is particularly surprising given it was mentioned that 70 per cent of the local populous in the Grimsby area had voted for Brexit, and it’s clear they have not got what they wished for.’ 

‘Rishi disappointed me greatly by leaving the D-Day celebrations’:  Denise Clarke, 59, of south London, who was forced to quit her supermarket job due to cancer  

‘You disappointed me greatly by leaving the D-Day celebrations because that was just unforgivable. 

‘You keep saying that you understand people’s frustrations, but you’re not giving any reasons of what you understand. 

‘You certainly don’t understand what it’s like to live hand to mouth because you have no idea about that at all. NHS promise is rubbish, you’re not going to follow that through, and the police – one per neighbourhood – that’s a waste of time isn’t it, and a waste of a lot of money.’ 

‘I thought the Prime Minister did very well tonight’: Dover fisherman Matt Coker, 44

‘I thought the Prime Minister did very well tonight. It was difficult, he had a lot of tough questions. He was up against it.

‘He’s far behind in the polls.

‘He is trailing a long way.

‘I don’t follow politics religiously but I can see that they are two very different characters.

‘I am based in Dover so the small migrant boat issue is very real. I think Rishi has a plan with that. It’s a very difficult and tough issue.

‘It won’t be solved overnight but the numbers are down. Work and effort has gone into that.

‘I thought Keir Starmer came across quite well. He would not budge on the Corbyn question at the start.

‘He would not give a straight answer though. And that has certainly put me off.

‘I felt Rishi was more direct and answered his questions.

‘Starmer has got to admit when he makes a mistake. If he’s not going to do that then I think that’s a problem, Sunak did admit when things had gone wrong.

‘Starmer’s answers did not sit well. It was a shock.

‘I think he tried to come across as being the person who wants to be liked by everyone. But I think Rishi’s answers were more honest and direct.

‘Based on that tonight I am more likely to vote Conservative.’ 

‘Starmer bugged me a little by skirting the questions’: Small business owner Elliot Horner, 26, from Lancaster   

‘I’m probably going against the trend but I thought Rishi did well tonight.

‘He answered questions more directly than Starmer and I think he came across as a bit more human, too.

‘There was a moment when the pair were asked facts about themselves that people did not know. Keir’s answer was political but Rishi have a weird insight into his life about being a sugar gremlin.

‘Rishi normally gets attacked as being robotic – and in the first ITV debate I thought he was.

‘But he seemed to deal well with the pressure tonight. He seemed to keep a cool head.

‘Starmer bugged me a little by skirting the questions. There were no direct answers.

‘I know that’s how politics is run – they try no to make promises. 

‘I do still think he’s going to win next month and I wouldn’t say he was bad tonight, but he did get caught out on a few things. 

‘There was a direct question on raising taxes on the top 5% of earners and he definitely avoided it as much as he could. 

‘He said he doesn’t want tax rises on working people, in the Labour fashion, but to be honest, I’m just not sure I believe him. 

‘There were a lot of questions on how he would fund things but he didn’t really answer in any detail.’