Sunak v Starmer ITV debate scorecard: how Tory and Labour leaders fared in first TV contest

At one point the presenter Julie Etchingham had to tell the Prime Minister to lower his voice like a teacher reprimanding a schoolchild. ITV limited the responses from the candidates to just 45 seconds each, and that meant both Sunak and Starmer were cut short time after time on important subjects.

Both leaders received several rounds of applause from the audience, noticeably for Starmer on immigration and Sunak on the junior doctors’ strikes. However neither would have done enough to convince the public they are the stand-out candidate to be given the keys to Downing Street for another five years.

Here’s how we rated Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer’s performance overall in the opening TV debate. 

Rishi Sunak - strong attacks on tax but rated poorly on accuracy

Rishi Sunak managed to attack Keir Starmer repeatedly on tax, claiming Labour would increase taxes by £2,000 per person and bring in a pensioner’s tax. He managed to control the opening chapters of the debate, and the Labour leader failed to fully respond to the attacks. 

Sunak was more confident at the beginning, and you could see he had experience in this format, however that translated into cockiness when he interrupted Starmer over and over again. The Labour leader got a laugh from the audience when he hit out at “not getting a word in edgeways”. 

The Prime Minister got applause from the studio audience for his answers on the junior doctors strikes and on his climate change policies, however there was disparaging laughter when he tried to claim NHS waiting lists had come down. 

Accuracy - 3/10

A wide array of Rishi Sunak’s claims look pretty brittle under scrutiny. First of all, the assertion that a Labour government will put people’s taxes up by £2,000-a-year. He said this analysis was carried out by independent Treasury officials, when in actual fact it was conducted by Special Advisers who are Tory political appointees and not civil servants.

Nick MacPherson, a former permanent secretary to the Treasury, said these costings have “little if any credibility”, while James Smith, from the Resolution Foundation, said they should “not be used in public discourse”. 

Sunak also said small boat crossings are down by a third. They were in 2023, however they are at record levels in 2024 so far. The Prime Minister said NHS waiting lists have come down, they have dropped slightly in the last few months however they are still far higher than when he came into office.

He also claimed that Labour’s environment policies would cost voters thousands of pounds, something which has been debunked by the authors who wrote the PM’s climate report

Audience questions - 5/10

Sunak responded directly to audience questions more often than Starmer at the start. He was confident in saying: “You may not like it, but at least I have a plan.” This attitude appears to have gone down well in focus groups.

However, the Prime Minister fell slightly when responding to a question from a student about plans for young people. He was greeted with laughter over his national service scheme, and appeared unempathetic at certain times.

Appearance - 6/10

The Prime Minister was definitely the more confident candidate from the beginning, and his experience in these debates told. He looked natural and comfortable from the start, and this helped him land his opening attacks on tax.

However, as the debate went on his interruptions got more and more frequent, and he had to be quietened down by Etchingham. Overall, Sunak appeared polished but arrogant.

Overall - 5/10

Rishi Sunak was confident in his responses and attacked Labour well on tax, however, like the debates with Liz Truss, his constant interruptions of his opponent made him look arrogant and at times ridiculous.

Truss, of course, went on to win that contest, and it remains to be seen whether this will affect Sunak’s standing, however I think it is likely to play into voters’ perceptions that he is out of touch. He looked particularly crass when he had to be told to quieten down by Etchingham.

The main issue for Sunak is with his closing argument, when he effectively said don’t trust change and stick with the status quo.

Almost all of the focus groups carried out by pollsters have shown that voters want change. While this is difficult for the Prime Minister to tackle, arrowing in on the argument to stick with what you know will not win the election. Ultimately, Sunak needed to land a knock-out blow, and this most likely went to a split decision.

Keir Starmer - more empathetic but failed to put across Labour’s plan

It was clear that Starmer was nervous as he opened the debate, and he let Sunak dictate the opening exchanges on tax. It took him 26 minutes to deny the Prime Minister’s claims on an alleged £2,000 tax rise that Labour would bring in.

Starmer was strongest when questioning why Sunak called an election if the plan was working. This was something the Prime Minister didn’t have an answer on. He also used his experience as director of public prosecutions to sound impressive on defence and immigration, with the latter getting applause from the studio audience.

His closing remarks were very effective, saying that re-electing the Tories would be like seeing “the arsonists handed back the matches” and making a strong case for change.

Accuracy - 8/10

This was easy pickings for Starmer as he had a lot of material to bring up. He attacked Sunak over NHS waiting lists being higher than in January 2023, when Sunak made his five pledges, which was correct.

Starmer said migration has been at record levels over the last two years, which is correct - 2022 was the record for net migration. He also referenced Sunak’s work for a hedge fund during the financial crisis, which the Prime Minister did not push back on.

The Labour leader mentioned that Covid and Ukraine had contributed to the cost of living crisis, while also referencing Liz Truss’ mini-budget. The latter is something the Tories push back on, however it’s clear that mortgage rates increased significantly after it.

Overall there was no clear inaccuracy in Starmer’s attacks.

Audience questions - 5/10

With some questions, Starmer came across as empathetic and he sounded authentic when referencing his family’s tough times during a question on the cost of living crisis. Despite getting a groan in the press room, his frequent mentions of his career as director of public prosecutions appeared to go down well with the studio audience.

However, too frequently Starmer just attacked the Tories instead of answering the question. And this gets to the key reason why he’s not fully trusted by voters, with many saying they don’t know what he believes in. He should have focused on answering this question instead of repeatedly going after the Conservatives’ record, as everyone knows the crisis the country is in.

Appearance - 5/10

Starmer appeared nervous at first, rubbing his hands together and looking slightly uneasy. However he slowly started to settle into the debate, and landed his first blow when questioning why the Prime Minister had called the election if the plan was working.

The Labour leader was good at hitting back at Sunak’s constant interruptions, rolling his eyes and asking when he could get “a word in edgeways”. This went down well with the studio audience, and appeared to highlight the PM’s rudeness.

Overall - 6/10

Starmer started slowly and cautiously, and appeared caught off guard by Sunak’s relentless tax attacks. He should have defused that earlier, as it set the tone for much of the debate.

However, I thought he handled Sunak’s interruptions and badgering well, and came across as more mature. The Labour leader’s failure was he didn’t talk enough about his own policies, and instead was tempted too often to just attack the Tories’ 14-year record. 

Starmer gave a compelling statement at the end calling for change. Ultimately, he’s probably done enough with Labour so far ahead in the polls.

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.