British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer faced off in a final televised debate ahead of the election on July 4, in which all 650 seats in the House of Commons will be contested, Associated Press reports.
Sunak accused Starmer of planning significant tax increases and criticized his stance on immigration. Sunak questioned Starmer for not directly addressing whether he would make a deal with the Taliban regarding the deportation of asylum seekers from Afghanistan, a policy Sunak’s government has used with Albania and proposed for Rwanda.
Starmer acknowledged the challenges facing the country but stopped short of directly engaging with Sunak’s accusations, focusing instead on presenting Labour’s platform as a viable alternative to the current Conservative government. Starmer urged voters not to take Labour’s lead in the polls for granted, emphasizing the importance of voter turnout on July 4.
Both leaders avoided directly answering a question posed by an audience member about whether they were the best candidates to lead the country. Labour currently holds a substantial lead in opinion polls, suggesting a potential shift in power after 14 years of Conservative rule under five different prime ministers.
