Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak were criticised during the final leaders’ debate of the general election by a voter who asked: “Are you two really the best we’ve got?”
The Labour leader and Conservative Prime Minister went head-to-head during a feisty 75-minute debate broadcast live on the BBC on Wednesday evening.
The two politicians were put on the spot by a voter who summed up the lacklustre nature of the campaign as the country prepares to head towards the polls on Thursday, July 4.
Speaking at the event in Nottingham, presented by Mishal Hushain, voter Robert Blackstock told Sunak: “I think you did a pretty good job of being Chancellor. You’re a pretty mediocre Prime Minister.”
And to Starmer, he said: “I think that your strings are being pulled by very 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?”
Sunak said he understood “everyone’s frustration” and highlighted that while he had been Prime Minister inflation had come down and pledged “my primary job is to deliver economic stability so I can start cutting your taxes… allow me to finish the job”.
While Starmer stressed his record working “with the police in Northern Ireland as part of the work on the Good Friday Agreement”, running the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the way he said he had “changed” the Labour Party.
“I’m not surprised after 14 years of this that people feel this way because the country is in such a state… what I’m now asking for is the opportunity to change our country for the better,” he added.
During the debate, the leaders took audience questions on issues from migration and border security, tax and spending, pensions, welfare and transgender rights.
The Conservative Party switched their X – formerly Twitter – account name to Tax Check UK, and shared memes, including of Labour’s “there is no money” note to the social media page.
Labour shared its own online content during the debate, including accusing the Tories of being “chaos” and criticising Chancellor Jeremy Hunt for saying “Liz Truss’s economic plans were a ‘good thing to aim for’”.