Starmer: Sunak ‘sounding a bit desperate’ over TV debates | Vote 2024

Sir Keir Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of “sounding increasingly desperate” after the Prime Minister accused him of dodging TV debates.

Meanwhile, the Labour leader refused to confirm if he would agree to a leader’s event on Sky News.

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now from Glasgow is the leader of the labor party sakir starma so a very good morning to you good morning from GL Sak sta Richie sunak is today calling you spineless for chickening out of weekly TV debate so what’s your answer are you up for them he sounding increasingly desperate I have to say of course there are going to be uh TV debates they’re part and parcel of the uh election cycle now um I obviously want to spend as much of my time talking to voters directly I could do aund debates with Rishi sunak but I know what he’s going to say he’s going to say everything’s fine the cost of living crisis is over the Health Service hasn’t got any problems um and you know uh that is all he ever says of course there’s going to be debates but I he is sounding a bit desperate now okay there are going to be debates Sky News is planning a leader event in our Target Town of Grimsby so will you commit to that well look I mean there’ll be negotiations as to what exactly we’re doing but of course there are going to be debates and the more time I can spend talking to your uh viewers uh and those listening as well uh the better because I obviously want to get across the very positive offer that we have from labor that argument uh that I need to make will be making that we need to end the chaos and decline of the last 14 years Turn the Page and change and rebuild our country and the more I can speak directly uh to voters across the country here I’ve got the opportunity in Glasgow uh today then the better well we’ll come on to those issues just once we clear out the issu of the debates are you saying no to Sky news’s debate look there’s negotiations going on um and um but there will be debates there’s no doubt um about that what form will they take well I will you agree to head-to-head with rishy sunak look forgive me I’m not a I’m not dealing with the detail of the debates my team is dealing with that what I can tell you is they’re going to happen they’re part and parcel of uh the election cycle um but as I say I could debate Rishi nak we do it every Wednesday at Prime Minister’s question he says everything is fine everything’s going well everybody’s happy I’m afraid the problem is that’s a 100 sort of miles away from where most people are in their everyday lives and I want to talk to people about their everyday lives okay just a just a yes or no will you agree to a head-to-head debate with Richi sunak there will be head-to-head debates of course there will um but um you know as I say I could do that 100 times but the debate will be exactly the same because he always says the same thing okay let’s move on to to issues around policy we’ve learned this morning that energy prices are coming down um that’s more evidence that the country is getting back to normal under the Tories isn’t it well I’d be very interested in the reaction of your viewers to this idea that everything’s normal everything’s fine because uh everywhere I go um so many people tell me the cost of living is uh is still bearing down on them people on a mortgage coming off a fixed rate mortgage uh now their mortgages are going up by hundreds of pounds everybody knows prices are still um going up um Energy prices are still you know record high almost I mean this is this is 400 pounds more than it was just a few years ago even with a cap in place and that’s why we need longer term solutions to this so on energy for example um I’m here in Scotland talking about Great British energy this is going to be a publicly owned um energy uh Enterprise owned by the taxpayer making money for the taxpayer but crucially investing in clean British power which means that energy prices don’t come down just for a while but come down for good and we have um finally security so that Putin can’t put his boot on our throats and we can have we want to get rid of the fluctuation of the last couple of years that’s a much better long-term answer uh on the issues that people are facing of course I support the cap but the cap if you like is a sticking plaster it’s good for the time being um but you can’t just keep having price caps you need to have a long-term answer which is how are you going to get the prices down for good I want to invest in clean British power and where that then um uh brings in private investment and there’s profit to be made from that investment I want that to come back to the taxpayer here in this country you say that energy bills will come down under GB energy when will that happen will it happen within months that energy energy prices will drop under labor by the end of the parliament how soon oh certainly by the end of the parliament um and a lot sooner than that because we can set up Great British energy pretty quickly we’ve done a lot of thinking as to what the entity looks like we’ve already as you would have expected had discussions with partners that we want to co-invest with so I think we can get moving on this very very quickly but I’ll give you a short example of why this matters in Glasgow there’s an onshore Wind Farm just up the road it’s quite incredible with turbines that are you know incredible bits of Machinery but none of them were built in the UK the next generation at offshore wind farms um they’re about to be launched I want us to invest in that so we get the yield I don’t want to I mean the wind farms that were put up on the Hills just a few miles from here were all towed in from other countries we didn’t get the jobs that went with them I’m determined to turn that around so that where we’re investing we’re paying our bills in this country we’re getting the jobs we’re getting the lower prices that go with it you say that you’ll decarbonize the electricity grid by 2030 climate experts say that reaching that Target will cost a lot more than you’re currently committing to it so are you prepared to raise taxes to fill that Gap so what we want is clean Power by 2030 uh and that’s one of the five big things that I want to achieve in government because that will bring our prices down that will give us energy security it’ll also give us very very many jobs I do think it can be done by 2030 I accept it’s a challenge all the people I’ve spoken to about it saying it is a challenge but it’s doable here but you got to have a absolute focus on it as for the requires an additional 15 a half billion pounds per year yeah on the costings I’ve gone through each and every costing needed for clean Power by 2030 and we are sticking with each of those commitments that we’ve already made so that is all in place now I know it’s it is going to be a sleeves rolled up absolute laser focus Purpose Driven government uh if we’re going to achieve this but I think we can do it I’m ambitious for our country I think we can drive this forward and the prize is huge to have those lower bills permanently to generate um you know tens of thousands of jobs and to have energy security so when um you know Russia act in the way that Putin has it doesn’t impact on households in the United Kingdom that’s really important energy is one area that you’ve backtracked since you became labor leader ditching your promise to spend 28 billion pounds a year in green investment it’s not the only one is it you’ve also dropped pledges to abolish University tuition fees increase income tax for the top 5% of earners bring into public ownership the utilities um so are people right to worry that any promises you make now will be junked once you’re in number 10 well let me I mean let me uh take that on head on and thank you for putting it to me because if you take say tuition fees um I do think the current system is unfair I think it’s unfair on students I think it’s unfair on universities it needs to change and I did Advocate getting rid of tuition fees you’re absolutely right about that um now damage has been done to the economy um we’ve got to make a choice because we’ve got waiting lists that are uh best part of 8 million the the the money is not available to do both um 40,000 um appointments every week to bring the waiting list down and tuition fees so I’ve had to hear me out because I do think this is very important in the end if you can’t do both you have to make a decision are you going to abolish tuition fees or are you going to bring down the waiting lists I’ve taken a political choice I accept that um people will judge me on that I accept that my choice given the level of waiting list is to bring those waiting list down and put the NHS back on its feet that means I can’t abolish tuition fees okay now you will say to me well that’s a U-turn it’s the Practical reality of the damage that the Tes have done to the economy and most many many people watching this will know that they wanted to do you know many things but when they look at the costings they can’t do all of them they got to make a choice what I want to do is be clear about what that choice is and to say it this side of the election so people can judge me is he right to prioritize the NHS over tuition fees if you agree with him then that might be a reason to vote for him if you think no I think we can leave the NHS on its face on its knees but get rid of a abolish tuition fees if you think that’s the right choice well that’s a difference of opinion I’ve made my choice difficult circumstances cuz they’ve busted the economy but it’s uh I don’t want to um you know announce this after the election I want people to be able to judge me I’ve prioritized the NHS uh that is my political choice and people viewing this will have to decide whether I’ve made the right priority there I think I have the labor part is Comfortably ahead in the polls but your own personal rating lags behind the parties why do you think that is do you think it is that people think they don’t know what you stand for that you do Backtrack on your promises the labor party is ahead because we’re a changed labor party that is the project that I have led for four and a bit years the very very just hear me out we’re ahead in the polls because we’ve changed the labor party that is my project that’s the work I’ve been doing for the last four and a half years um and therefore um you know I’m proud of the fact that we have now a changed labor party that would not have happened without my leadership of the labor party and that’s why we’re now in a good position to go into the election I’d also say that you know we’ve seen plenty of examples of failt to governments but where the labor party has not come into government um because it wasn’t clear enough about the importance of security the economy um and our borders this change labor party is absolutely clear about those things which is why I think that uh we’re in a good position going forward obviously the polls don’t predict the future we have to earn every vote to humbly ask for votes and what I say is look I’ve changed the labor party I’m humbly now asking people to give the labor party the opportunity to change the country and put the country back in the service of working people you’ve changed your mind on policies and we’ve talked about that a little bit but you’ve also changed your mind on people as well um J Corbin has just announced that he is going to stand against labor in his constituency this was a man that you back to be the country’s leader five years ago now he’s not allowed even in the party what’s your reaction to him standing against labor well that’s a matter for Jeremy Corbin I’m very clear um the first thing I said as labor leader is that I would tear anti-Semitism out of our party by the roots that was my first solemn promise and I’ve followed through on that um and that is why I took the decision that Jeremy Corbin would not stand as a labor candidate at this election U now that what’s happened with Jeremy standing as independent that’s a matter for him we will have an excellent labor candidate in Islington North making the same argument as we will across the country which is it’s time to end 14 years of chaos and division it’s time to turn the page and a fresh start and rebuild our country together so Jeremy Corbin not a labor candidate what about Diane Abbott will she be a labor candidate come the general election well the final decisions on candidates is coming up uh in uh a few days time I think June the 4th um it may be a little earlier a little later I can’t quite remember but within a relatively short period of time the um final list of candidates will um be decided um and that’ll be a matter for the labor party’s national executive committee if she’s not a candidate how comfortable are you that Natalie elfick will be a labor candidate and not Diane Abbott Natalie elfi won’t be a labor candidate she’s standing down at this election we have an excellent uh candidate uh in Dover um but what I would say because it’s a broader point you put to me which is important which is this change labor party is about taking our country forward and I think many people whether they voted labor in the past or not would say actually I do want want to take the country forward my community forward and my family and myself forward and labor party this change labor party is is the party that can now rebuild our country and I think um if we get the privilege of coming into government it will be to serve and Service uh will be tattooed through everything that we do um and we’ve got to let you go but briefly before we go tell us why you’re there in Glasgow today I’m here in Glasgow today to launch the Scottish campaign for this general election and also to reiterate that Great British energy uh this publicly owned company uh will not only be making money for the taxpayer but based here in Scotland