Tonight's TV debate Sunak v Starmer - any predictions?

[CallingOccupantsOfInterplanetaryCraft]

Anyone up for a watch thread? Maybe even debate bingo. I know I know, don't threaten me with a good time. (Bingo suggestions: natural party of business, Labour has no plan, end the chaos, Rayner will take over, assorted references to Starmer's time as DPP probably blaming for Jimmy Saville again, inflation is down etc etc.)

At this point I seriously doubt anything like this will remotely change the game Nick Clegg style. I read somewhere the only way Sunak could come out of this ahead in the polls is if Starmer pulled off a mask scooby-doo style to reveal he's Jeremy Corbyn, which admittedly would be great telly.

I'm so fed up with the endless rhetoric but will definitely watch later anyway.

I think certain posters are so heavily entrenched in their position they think any admission of starmer or labour not being perfect means support for the tories. It doesn’t.

I’m all for raising educational standards. This isn’t the way to do it. And hasn’t worked in other countries as a pp pointed out.

Starmer should’ve talked over him. Or he should’ve sternly warned the host he would only continue on fair grounds. He needs to prove he can stand firm and deliver even when somebody is trying to push him into submission. It was a great chance for him to put Sunak in his place and prove his strength, and he failed.

YouGov

Who did better on...

Cost of living: Sunak 38% / Starmer 51%
NHS: Sunak 28% / Starmer 61%
Education: Sunak 31% / Starmer 52%
Tax: Sunak 53% / Starmer 32%
Immigration: Sunak 45% / Starmer 42%
Climate change: Sunak 24% / Starmer 48%

No thanks - I've no interest in watching two men talk over each other.

I agree.

It shows a complete lack of understanding when school fees can be more than earnt in a full time minimum wage job.

I agree. And my children go to private school!

Honestly there are far bigger issues to worry about. The environment and the NHS for starters

(Oh and the arrogant way the Tory party just partied through COVID, illegally prorogued parliament, blew a Liz Truss shaped hole in the economy.... )

Yikes. Not as clear cut as the polls - proving his performance was disappointing.

Yes there are far bigger issues. To some of mumsnet nothing is as important as stopping vat being added to private school fees though.

Personally social care and the NHS and the education of the majority of children is more important.

It was never going to be as big a gap as the polls. You’re comparing apples and bananas.

Bit of an oh sht! moment for labour..

Whens the next one? Hopefully it will be much better. Couldn’t be much worse.

I agree and he looks flustered. I don't believe if his wife or DC were very ill and needed urgent medical surgery he'd not pay for them to go private. I think he's lying about that.

If it was urgent he wouldn’t need to pay to go private.

This must be Tory HQ sound bite messaging. I went to a public meeting with our Tory MP tonight and he started going on about how Labour's policy on energy would cost every home £20k for a new boiler.
He also went on about Labour not having any policies. Which just reinforced the fact he'd totally made it up!

I really don't like Sunak.but he is wiping the floor with Starmer who won't answer how he will do anything. Keir said I'll stop the boats from coming. How Keir?

But it shows people aren’t voting Labour for Kier.

Most people I’ve asked are voting labour because they dislike the tories and want change, but they have no idea what that change would be.

And we still don’t know 🤷🏼‍♀️

Broadband went down so I missed it which I am not upset about .

i’d like to see the manifestos launch on the same day. I haven’t forgotten how the Tories deliberately leaked policy to the press , judged public reaction then reassessed and I don’t want to see them do the same with seeing how Labour’s manifesto is received then changing theirs.

I agree with this it’s a difficult question for him to answer

child in pain having to wait hours then once having seen a doctor weeks/months for a referral

of course he would go private he knows how fucked the nhs is

It worries me he won't say how. Is it because he doesn't know or he doesn't think the public will like his answer? That's what worries me the most.

Fucked after 14 years of the Tories. ..

And everyone knows Sunak would go private for absolutely everything

He gave a detailed and sensible answer about breaking up the gangs that bring them here. Did you just miss that bit? It seemed a far more sensible plan than Rishi's and far less expensive

Yes we do.

Labour will channel more money and resources towards the people and places who need it most.

Like they always do.

Quite.

Plus we can be in no doubt that the Tories aren't even capable of their usual promise of fixing the economy because they chucked that down the toilet too. I have never forgotten the weeks that followed and the amazing projects my work were about to start that would have benefitted so many people and instead had to be shelved

and how is the whole 'flights to Rwanda' fiasco going?

Really? Not in my lifetime (55+years). Labour always trash the economy and it is already trashed enough now.