London: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday clashed with his Labour opponent Keir Starmer in a fiery last debate before the high-stakes elections on July 4, where both leaders launched highly personal attacks over the credibility of their party as well as their own. Starmer is widely expected to become the next PM as his party is well ahead of Sunak's Conservatives in all opinion polls before the elections.
During the debate, Sunak accused his rival of not being straight with the country on migration, tax and women's rights, and urging voters not to "surrender" to the Labour Party. Starmer responded by saying the PM was too rich to understand the concerns of most ordinary Britons. A snap YouGov poll said the debate had come to a tie, with both leaders at 50 per cent.
The Labour Party is on course to win the upcoming elections with a large majority, ending 14 years of Conservative rule, with a margin of 20 points in the opinion polls. Sunak's problems widened after some of his candidates were mired in a scandal over betting on the date of the elections and his abrupt departure from the D-Day commemorations in France earlier this month.
'Are you going to do a deal with Taliban': Sunak to Starmer
During the testy TV debate, Sunak rejected Starmer's argument that he would seek to return migrants to their home countries by saying that many had arrived from countries like Iran, Syria and Afghanistan. "Is he going to sit down with the Iranian Ayatollah? Are you going to try and do a deal with the Taliban? It's completely nonsensical. You are taking people for fools. I think that these people should not stay in our country. They will be on planes to Rwanda," he said.
It is important to mention that immigration is one of the biggest concerns for British voters. The Conservatives led by Sunak have for months tried to pass a bill that would allow the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda in order to curb record migration levels, although the proposal came under widespread criticism for failing to tackle human rights challenges.
On the other hand, Starmer argued the country was exhausted after 14 years of Conservative "chaos", and that he would better understand the challenges of many families who have struggled under soaring inflation and a cost of living crisis. "Part of the problem we have with this prime minister is that his lived world is millions of miles away from the lived worlds of individuals across the country, the businesses and the families that they're trying to support," he said.
Sunak called 'mediocre', Starmer criticised
While Sunak's election campaign was troubled by his failure to resolve the cost-of-living crisis in the UK accompanied by the betting scandal and the D-Day embarrassment, Starmer has also faced criticism at public events, being accused by voters of sticking to a script and being robotic, and failing to give enough information on how he would fund much-needed improvements to public services.
One questioner, Robert, seemed to speak for much of the audience when he set out his feelings. He called Sunak a "pretty mediocre prime minister" and said he thought that Starmer's strings were being pulled by senior members of the Labour Party. "Are you two really the best we've got to be the next prime minister of our great country?" he said, to loud applause.
Meanwhile, the frustration with Conservatives has also lent strength to a third party - the anti-immigration Reform UK Party led by Nigel Farage. Opponents have long accused Farage of fanning racist attitudes toward migrants and condemned what they call his scapegoat rhetoric. However, failures to tackle the issues of economy and healthcare have disillusioned the people and helped Reform UK's chances, in another blow for Sunak.
(with inputs from agencies)
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