Glimmer of hope for Rishi as Tories celebrate PM’s performance in first TV election debate that ‘left Starmer exposed’ and snap poll shows PM edged the head-to-head – as rattled Labour hit out at Tory ‘lies’ about their tax plans costing Brits £2,000

Rishi Sunak has been offered a glimmer of hope in his bid to overturn the odds at the general election as Tories celebrated his performance in last night’s TV debate.

The Prime Minister’s allies crowed about how their man left Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer exposed during the fiery head-to-head clash on ITV.

They claimed it was ‘astonishing’ that Sir Keir ‘didn’t really have any answers’ as he and Mr Sunak were quizzed about voters’ key issues.

A snap YouGov poll also found that 51 per cent thought Mr Sunak won the debate, with 49 per cent plumping for the Labour leader.

Senior Labour figures were left fuming at the PM’s ‘lies’ about their tax plans, after Mr Sunak berated Sir Keir for plotting to hike the tax burden for Brits by £2,000.

Jonathan Ashworth, a leading member of Labour’s shadow cabinet, told Sky News this morning: ‘Last night what was exposed was just how desperate Rishi Sunak has become.

‘Because he lied about Labour’s tax plans. What he said last night about Labour’s tax plans is categorically untrue.

‘Labour will not put up income tax, not put up national insurance, will not put up VAT.

‘What we saw last night with Rishi Sunak was how desperate he becomes. What desperate people do is they lie.’

But Cabinet minister Claire Coutinho doubled down on the Tory claims about Labour’s tax plans, telling the BBC: ‘I thought it was astonishing that Keir Starmer, on all the big issues, didn’t really have any answers.

‘There was no plan there and one of the things that was most worrying is the £2,000 in extra tax rises that his proposals would mean for working families – he simply couldn’t rule that out.’

‘These are official costings from the Treasury based on policies that the Labour Party has set out in documents that they have said will be in the manifesto.’

The row over the Tory claims deepened when it was revealed the Treasury’s top official had written to Labour two days ago to confirm the Conservatives’ assessment of their tax plans ‘should not be presented as having been produced by the civil service’.

This was despite Mr Sunak having told last night’s debate that ‘independent Treasury officials have costed Labour’s policies and they amount to a £2,000 tax rise for every working family’.

Mr Ashworth, appearing on the BBC, said the letter from Treasury permanent secretary James Bowler was ‘slam dunk proof of Rishi Sunak’s big desperate lie’.

Meanwhile, a separate snap poll by Savanta found Sir Keir outperformed Mr Sunak in last night’s debate.

They found the Labour leader beat Mr Sunak by 44 per cent to 39 per cent. They found Sir Keir had outperformed the PM on the NHS and public services (63 per cent to 25 per cent), on the economy (52 per cent to 36 per cent), and defence and security (43 per cent to 41 per cent).

Pollsters at the firm also found Sir Keir ‘came across as most honest’ among voters  (54 per cent to 29 per cent), and that the Labour leader ‘remained the calmest’ (51 per cent to 36 per cent).

Chris Hopkins, Savanta’s political research director, said: ‘Presentationally, it felt like the Prime Minister had the upper hand at times – in particular towards the end of the debate – and although our figures suggest he lost narrowly, he probably still outperformed expectations.’

During the tetchy exchanges on ITV last night, where both leaders repeatedly spoke over each as host Julie Etchingham struggled to rein them in, Mr Sunak warned Brits that Sir Keir will ‘raise your taxes and raid your pensions’ and has ‘no plan’ to tackle immigration.

Nigel Farage was the ghost at the feast after he announced a run to become a Reform MP, with Mr Sunak stressing that only he and Sir Keir can end up in No10 and a vote for ‘other’ parties will only guarantee Labour in power.

‘Beyond raising your taxes and raiding your pensions, no one knows what he will do,’ Mr Sunak said of his rival. ‘I have a clear plan for a more secure future for you and your family.’ 

With Labour miles ahead in opinion polls, Mr Sunak had to go on the offensive last night. And he went hard from the start, berating Sir Keir for plotting to hike the tax burden by £2,000. 

He later went on the attack over Net Zero saying Sir Keir would inflict big costs by forcing people to upgrade boilers and change cars. ‘Mark my words Labour will raise your taxes,’ he said. 

However, Sir Keir said that was ‘nonsense’ and he wanted to ‘turn the page’ with a ‘practical plan’ for the country.

He jibed that Mr Sunak calling the election early demonstrated that he did not believe the ‘plan was working’. ‘If he thinks that things are going to get better why has he called it now?’ Sir Keir said.

The leaders crossed swords on immigration, with Mr Sunak arguing the Rwanda policy could help stop small boats. When Sir Keir branded it an ‘expensive gimmick’ Mr Sunak shot back: ‘You might not like it but I’ve got a plan.’

Sir Keir also taunted the ‘desperate’ Tory leader that he was the ‘most liberal’ PM ever because legal net immigration is running at record levels – with the latest figures at 685,000 a year.

Mr Sunak received a round of applause as he said he was prepared to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to ensure migrants could be deported. But Sir Keir was also clapped as he said the UK should stick to its legal obligations.     

There were groans from the audience as Mr Sunak was challenged over NHS waiting lists, and claimed they were ‘coming down’. ‘They are coming down from when they were higher,’ he said.

Sir Keir said Labour would not pay a 35 per cent rise for junior doctors but insisted he could ‘resolve’ the long-running dispute that has hampered efforts to bring down NHS waiting lists.

However he blushed as he was put on the spot by the PM saying: ‘Just standing there saying, ‘I’ll resolve it’ isn’t an answer. That’s not a plan.’ 

Mr Sunak was targeted with more muttering from the crowd as he said the health service had been hit by ‘industrial action’. ‘So you’re blaming someone else,’ Sir Keir shot back.

In other key moments in the debate:

• A YouGov snap poll found that 51 per cent thought Mr Sunak won the debate, with 49 per cent plumping for Sir Keir – excluding don’t knows; 
• Some 62 per cent regarded the debate as ‘frustrating’. Sir Keir won on being trustworthy and likeable – and all other categories apart from tax, immigration and bring ‘prime ministerial’; 
• In a clear sign of how worried he is about the threat from Reform, Mr Sunak used his closing statement to warn that a vote for any other party is a vote for Labour; 
• Mr Farage responded to the row by posting a video of himself campaigning in Essex to the tune of Eminem’s Without Me – which includes the lyric: ‘We need a little controversy’; 
• Sir Keir mocked the Tories’ National Citizen Service policy as a ‘teenage Dads’ Army’, but Mr Sunak accused him of ‘sneering’ at a popular idea; 
• Mr Sunak defended private schools saying Sir Keir would punish parents who wanted to opt out of the state system; 
• Sir Keir contrasted his background as the son of a toolmaker with Mr Sunak’s wealth; 
• Both leaders said they would work with Donald Trump as US president even as a convicted criminal;  
• Etchingham repeatedly pleaded for the pair to calm down, saying she would not be ‘gentle’ with them any more. 

The stakes for Mr Sunak were underlined just before the start of the debate by huge Survation research showing Labour is on track for the biggest majority in modern political history at 324 seats – compared to the 179 margin Tony Blair achieved. 

The survey – conducted using the so-called MRP technique – projected the Conservatives would be reduced to just 71 MPs.

Mr Sunak would barely manage to cling on to his own Richmond & Northallerton constituency. It also suggested Reform could win three, as Nigel Farage launches his bombshell bid to win a constituency. 

The debate came as:

• Party leaders prepared to pause campaign hostilities as the nation marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day;

• Veterans minister Johnny Mercer acknowledged that the return of Mr Farage was ‘pretty s***’ for the Conservatives, but warned that voting Reform would usher in a Labour government;

• A new Survation poll predicted that Labour is on course for the biggest majority in history, with the Conservatives reduced to a rump of just 71 seats;

• Labour foreign spokesman David Lammy said he had changed his mind on nuclear weapons in the wake of the Ukraine war and now believes Britain needs the deterrent;

• A woman was arrested after a milkshake was thrown over Mr Farage at his campaign launch in Clacton, Essex.

Mr Sunak said people should judge him by his actions during the pandemic. 

‘Every week when I’m out and about, someone comes up to me and tells me how furlough saved their family, saved their home, because that’s who I am,’ the PM told the ITV debate.

As Etchingham tried to get him to finish his answer, Mr Sunak said he wanted to cut taxes while Labour wanted to put them up.

Sir Keir suggested the wealthy Prime Minister did not understand the plight facing hard-pressed households.

Referring to his own childhood, he said: ‘I do know the anguish of worrying, when the postman comes with a bill, what is that bill going to be, can I pay it?

‘I don’t think the Prime Minister quite understands the position that you and other people are in. ‘

Sir Keir branded Mr Sunak ‘the British expert of tax rises’ as they clashed over tax rates. 

And he peppered his appearance with attacks on Liz Truss’s record on the economy, prompting Mr Sunak to say he was obsessed with the past, rather than focused on the future.

The PM hit back with the Tory claim that Labour would put up taxes by £2,000 for every family. 

Mr Sunak accused Sir Keir of working for ‘extremists like Abu Qatada and Hizb ut-Tahrir’ during his career as a lawyer. The Labour leader branded the Prime Minister’s comments ‘desperate’. 

Referencing audience member Paula who was struggling to pay her bills, the PM asked the Labour leader: ‘If people are struggling with their bills, why do you want to increase the amount they pay in tax … you name it, Labour will tax it.’

The two leaders clashed on immigration, with Mr Sunak saying a Labour government would abandon Rwanda deportation flights. 

‘The flights will go in July, but only if i am the prime minister,’ he adds.

‘If Keir Starmer is PM those people will be released … they will be out on the streets.’

Host Julie Etchinham had to interrupt him again as he demanded of the Labour leader: ‘What are you going to do?’

But Sir Keir fired back: ‘He kept a promise (to cut illegal immigration) and he’s completely failed to keep it.’

Mr Sunak vowed to take the UK out of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights if required to deal with the Channel crisis. 

He said: ‘If I am forced to choose between our national security and … a foreign court I am going to choose national security every time.’ 

But Sir Keir said the UK risked becoming a ‘pariah’ state if it left international conventions.

‘We will not pull out of international agreements and international law which is respected the world over,’ he said.

‘Because I want the UK to be a respected player on the global stage, not a pariah who doesn’t agree with international law.’

Etchingham warned the pair to stick to a rule of 45 seconds per answer, but repeatedly had to curtail the politicians’ answers.

After one exchange, she told them: ‘Please, an appeal from me not to speak over one another. We want to make sure that everybody can hear what you’re saying.’

‘Thank you, not over each other,’ she said later.

‘Gentlemen please, we’re just going to take a pause there.’

After a commercial break, the host warned them: ‘Just a little information for both of our candidates here, please, an appeal from me, not to speak over one another.

‘We want to make sure that everybody can hear what you’re saying.

‘That was a gentle reminder, it may not be so gentle next time.’

One viewer posted on X: ‘This debate is absolutely awful.

‘The moderation is dreadful. The time to answer, and space to answer, is awful.

‘The constant interruptions are awful. Everything is awful. I have zero confidence it will give a single voter any help in making a choice.’

Another said: ‘Julie, please get hold of this, stop letting him talk over you.’

Later, as the debate over immigration got heated, the PM raised his voice asking the Labour leader: ‘What are you going to do with illegal migrants?’

Etchingham intervened: ‘Please gentleman, we will lower our voices.’

Speaking after the debate shadow minister Mr Ashworth accused ‘tetchy’ Rishi Sunak of speaking over Sir Keir. When MailOnline asked him about the times the Labour leader spoke over the PM he branded it a ‘strong performance’.

He also brands the Tory claim that Labour would up taxes by £2,000 as ‘garbage’

For the Tories, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins accused Sir Keir of making up policy ‘on the air’.

Michael Gove said that Labour is mired in ‘confusion, despondency and disarray’ after Mr Sunak’s performance. Asked about the threat from Reform UK he labelled them ‘just a branch of the Labour Party.’

Mr Gove said Mr Sunak had left Sir Keir ‘flat on the canvas’ and had a ‘six-nil victory’.

The veteran Tory minister added: ‘Keir Starmer was flat on the canvas at the end of that.

‘Can you tell me a single thing that Keir Starmer said that allows you to be better informed as to what he would do as prime minister? No.

‘The one policy detail that he did get into, Great British Energy, he said would generate energy. No it won’t.

‘Ed Miliband will have had his head in his hands watching that, not just because Keir Starmer got his central mission wrong, (but) because Ed Miliband will have recognised that even he could have put in a better performance.’

A Tory source defended Mr Sunak’s performance in the debate, saying: ‘I don’t think he was steamrolling anyone’.

They added that often he was trying to get a straight answer out of the Labour leader: ‘How many times did Keir Starmer not answer one of Rishi Sunak’s questions, or Julie Etchinghams?’

Earlier, one defending MP told MailOnline they wanted Mr Sunak to emulate Nick Clegg, who handed the Lib Dem campaign a huge boost with his debate performance in 2010. 

But the former Cabinet minister said they were not optimistic he would succeed: ‘It’s difficult and I just don’t know… we can but hope.’

Other senior Conservatives suggested Mr Sunak will need to ‘hit Starmer hard’ on issues such as the Rwanda deportations plan.

‘Starmer is hardly very light on his feet. I think the stand for nothing charge might resonate,’ one said. But they admitted that the gap in the polls meant the premier needed a ‘miracle’. 

Mr Sunak stayed away from the campaign trail today as he focused on preparing, arriving in Manchester in casual clothes accompanied by key aides. Earlier he went to scope out the futuristic set for the clash.  

The Survation findings were based on more than 30,000 interviews conducted since the start of the election campaign. The MRP method maps demographic characteristics to voters to give seat-by-seat estimates. 

However, many Tories insist they are not detecting the same level of gloom on the doorstep. 

There was slightly better news for Mr Sunak as a separate Savanta poll suggested the Labour lead had been trimmed to 14 points.

There is rising anger within Conservative ranks at the PM’s decision to call the election earlier than most had expected.

With little sign of Mr Sunak making inroads into Labour’s huge poll lead, one Tory candidate bemoaned the PM’s ‘obviously really stupid’ gamble on a summer vote.

Another Conservative candidate claimed MPs and party members had been ‘thrown to the wolves’.

Mr Sunak is reeling from Nigel Farage’s decision to return to the political frontline to lead Reform UK’s campaign and seek a House of Commons seat in Clacton-on-Sea.

Some Tories have been venting frustration that Mr Sunak did not act earlier to head off the threat from Mr Farage. 

One former minister told MailOnline the Brexit champion should ‘absolutely’ have been given a peerage before. ‘It was stupid and churlish not to,’ they said. 

The PM faced a double blow on Monday when a new YouGov poll, released shortly after Mr Farage’s dramatic announcement, showed the Tories on course for wipeout.

Sir Keir, who has faced his own difficulties with high-profile rows over Labour’s selection of candidates, campaigned in the North West this morning.

But the Labour leader used yesterday afternoon for final preparations for the debate.

Asked how he was feeling ahead of the encounter, Sir Keir said: ‘Very good, looking forward to the opportunity to speak directly to voters through the debate to put our case, because at the end of the day it is that clear choice, and I think voters will see that tonight. 

Sir Keir said his prep had been carried out by ‘the same team as for PMQs’.

Mr Sunak geared up for the debate with deputy PM Oliver Dowden playing the part of the Labour leader in rehearsals.