Sunak Claims Narrow Win In Tetchy First Leaders' Debate

Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer slugged it out in a tetchy first leader's debate of the general election, with snap pollsters giving a narrow edge to the embattled prime minister. While Mr Sunak appeared to land more verbal blows on the Labour leader, he was also mocked more by an audience concerned about the state of the NHS, schools, and the cost of living.

- DAVID MADDOX

In a shouty confrontation, ITV's Julie Etchingham struggled at times to keep the debate civil, and had to issue a half-time warning to the two men to stop interrupting one another. In the second half of the debate, during a particularly loud exchange, she said: "Please, gentlemen, we will lower our voices."

With Labour leading in the polls by more than 20 points, and the Tories according to some predictions - facing the prospect of winning fewer than 100 seats, Mr Sunak was under huge pressure to score a significant victory. And while the YouGov instant reaction poll gave him a narrow win of 51 per cent to 49 per cent, the closeness of the survey underscored a contest in which it was difficult to see a clear winner.

But the prime minister will be pleased that his two attack lines appeared to gain traction. Damagingly, it took Sir Keir 26 minutes to deny Mr Sunak's repeated claim that he would raise taxes by more than £2,000 for each household. He eventually retorted that the figure had come from the Tories "taking a made-up Labour policy to Treasury officials for them to cost".