'Defeated' PM lacks spark as Starmer wins Sky debate

Rishi Sunak’s seemingly inevitable path to defeat in the election saw him take another blow last night after a snap poll of viewers of the Sky News debate with Keir Starmer saw him lose by almost two to one.

- DAVID MADDOX

According to the YouGov survey of 1,864 voters who watched the two take questions in Grimsby, 64 per cent named Sir Keir as the winner and 36 per cent Mr Sunak. It was a blow for a prime minister who needed to use the debate as a means of reigniting his campaign, which has seen the Tories trail Labour by more than 20 points and been dogged by a series of missteps.

Noticeably he did not repeat his line from the first debate that Labour would raise taxes by £2,000 for which Sir Keir had accused him of “lying” after the Treasury’s most senior civil servant disowned the figure. But the opposition leader also only once referred to Labour’s claim that the Tories would lead to a mortgage payment increase of £4,800 over five years after that figure also drew ridicule.

Just 24 hours after he launched his party’s manifesto, Mr Sunak was still finding himself having to apologise for abandoning the D-Day commemorations early last week to do an interview on ITV. That interview today drew more mocking attacks on him for suggesting his childhood was a struggle because his parents did not pay for Sky television.

The PM arrived in Grimsby to headlines that his closest parliamentary aide Craig Williams had apologised for putting a bet on the general election date shortly before it was called and his defence secretary Grant Shapps had appeared to put up the white flag, warning against a Labour “supermajority”.