Rishi Sunak has thrown down the gauntlet to Sir Keir Starmer by challenging the Labour leader to six head-to-head debates ahead of the 2024 General Election.
The Prime Minister, who is around 20-points behind Labour in the opinion polls, suggested half a dozen debates just hours after calling for a snap election on the steps of Downing Street.
Writing for The Telegraph, Sunak said: “I want to debate these issues with Sir Keir Starmer. But he doesn’t want to because he doesn’t have a plan and doesn’t have the courage to say what he wants to do.”
Tory Party chairman Richard Holden added: “It’s no surprise spineless Sir Keir Starmer is chickening out of debates that he publicly promised to do just months ago.
“It’s time for Sir Keir to grow a backbone. The public deserves to hear and scrutinise what the man who wants to be our prime minister has to say before he changes his mind, again.”
Starmer, who agreed to two debates on the BBC and ITV, has contested weekly despatch box bouts with three Prime Ministers since succeeding Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Opposition.
Speaking in January, the Labour leader said: “I have been saying bring it on for a very, very long time. I’m happy to debate at any time.”
Southside insiders have argued Starmer is looking to prioritise connecting with voters rather than locking horns with Sunak.
A senior Labour source said: “”Labour believes spending time on the road talking to voters across the country is the priority and so Keir Starmer is planning to take part in the two debates with the largest audience: BBC and ITV.
“We won’t be tearing up the format established in previous elections just to suit this week’s whims of the Tory Party.”
Farage ‘wrong-footed’ by Sunak’s snap election announcement
Nigel Farage was “wrong-footed” by Rishi Sunak’s decision to hold a snap general election, the former Brexit Party leader has revealed.
The 60-year-old, who remains the populist party’s honorary president, yesterday confirmed he would not stand in his eighth parliamentary contest.
Farage later revealed the Prime Minister’s decision caught him off-guard, with the longstanding Eurosceptic hoping for a longer campaign to secure a seat in Westminster.
He told GB News: If the Tories think it’s great Nigel’s not standing, they’re wrong.
“I’m going to be involved in this campaign absolutely.
“What I could not do in the space of six weeks, and yes, all right, he’s wrong footed me, but in the space of six weeks was to find a constituency from scratch, and go round the country.
“I’m utterly committed to Reform. I believe their agenda is the only one that can actually stop the sense of national decline that we’re in.”
Farage later fired the starting gun on his political returning in 2029.
Speaking to The Telegraph, the ex-MEP said: “I’ve got one more big card to play in politics in my life.”
Shadow Minister swats away ‘boring’ Starmer claims as Labour leader sets sights on Downing Street
Shadow Cabinet Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds has rejected claims that Sir Keir Starmer is “boring” after the Labour leader launched his 2024 General Election campaign in Kent yesterday.
Speaking on GB News, Thomas-Symonds said: ““First of all, by the way, Keir Starmer most definitely is not boring. I’ve known Keir Starmer for many, many years.
“He’s witty, great company, but he’s also, by the way, a serious politician for the very serious challenges of our time.”
The Torfaen MP added: “We’ve seen the damage that unserious politicians do to our country.
“The 49 days of Liz Truss, where my constituents and people up and down the country are still paying the cost of that and they come off fixed rate mortgage deals and see their new offers being significantly higher.
“We know what the cost-of-living crisis is still doing up and down the country.”
Reform poses threat to Tories in at least 28 seats
Reform UK poses a major threat to Tory candidates in at least 28 seats, new analysis has revealed.
A YouGov poll released last month claimed the populist party is expected to win more than 20 per cent of the vote in a series of constituencies across England’s North and Midlands.
Reform UK finished in second across 36 constituencies.
However, Reform UK MP Lee Anderson is 12-points behind in Ashfield and Richard Tice’s party remains a distant challenger in all other contests.
Tice is also expected to make Boston & Skegness a three-horse race, with Reform UK on 25 per cent, Labour on 28 per cent and Tory incumbent Matt Warman marginally ahead of 36 per cent.
A further 375 seats could see the party secure more than 12 per cent of the vote, their current vote share in national polling.
