Sunak v Starmer: Who won the first election debate?

Who came out on top in last night’s general election TV debate? No 10’s former head of press Giles Kenningham gives his verdict

The run up to last night’s leaders debate could not have been worse for the Conservatives. Lagging behind in the polls, talk of defections and Nigel Farage’s decision to stand dominated the news cycle piling pressure on Sunak and the Conservatives. But Labour did nothing to dampen expectations around Starmer’s frontrunner tag and paid the price.

This was a high stakes, high wire event where Sunak had nothing to lose and Starmer had everything to lose. And Sunak came out fired up. Sunak repeatedly asked Starmer questions framing the debate. 

Starmer lacked the light touch he needs to look like a Prime Minister in waiting. At times he looked annoyed and frustrated by Sunak’s continued interruptions saying at one point: “Can I just get a word in edge-ways?”

He needs to be quicker and more match fit. He took more than half an hour to rebut the Conservatives’ claims that Labour would hike your taxes by £2,000.

And what are we talking about the next day? Tory claims that Labour are going to hike your taxes by £2,000. If you are explaining, you are losing.

Starmer’s line that Sunak “is a British expert on tax rises, they’re at the highest level for 70 years,” was a decent riposte. But the economy is Labour’s achilles heel and they need to shut down questions about their economic competence. Labour wants the economic conversation to be on Liz Truss’s disastrous time as Prime Minister on Sunak. But they will need to find a pithier way of landing the attack line.

We know what Starmer’s against but he needs to flesh out what he’s for. Whilst change is a powerful message he needs to define what that means. Attacking the Conservatives is not an agenda for the future. Similarly, labelling policies as a “gimmick” or saying you will resolve things is not enough. The Conservatives say undecided voters are asking what Starmer stands for in focus groups hence their repeated claims that he has no plan for the country.

Did Sunak deliver a knockout blow? No. But he lives to fight another day and will have for now calmed the jittery nerves of the Tories looking at the polls. How can we judge if Labour wins the next debate? We will be talking about the NHS the next day.