Conservative Minister Penny Mordaunt and Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner repeatedly clashed over defence and taxation during the BBC’s fierce seven-party election debate.
Mr Mordaunt repeated the controversial claim that Labour wanted to increase taxes by £2,000 per household, which Mr Rayner described as a “lie”.
Britain’s statistics watchdog criticised the Conservative government’s use of the £2,000 figure, saying it could be “misleading” to the public.
Immigration was another issue during the 90-minute debate, with Reform UK’s Nigel Farage coming under heavy criticism from the Scottish National Party, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and Plaid Cymru.
- author, Sam Francis
- role, BBC News
Tax was also central to Monday’s face-off between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, but the debate gave smaller parties a chance to grab attention.
It comes after what is seen as the biggest blunder of the election campaign so far, when Rishi Sunak was forced to apologise for leaving the then Normandy Senator early from an event marking the 80th anniversary of the election of the Normandy Senatorial Party to the Normandy Senate.
Penny Mordaunt was quick to condemn the Prime Minister’s decision, saying he was “completely wrong”.
Mordaunt, the naval reservist, said Mr Sunak was right to apologise to veterans and the public but warned it must not become a “political ball game”.
Unlike other Conservative MPs, Mr Mordaunt did not use the opportunity to praise Mr Sunak’s record on military veterans and defence.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said Mr Sunak’s actions were a “political disgrace”, while Mr Farage said Mr Sunak’s early departure was a “complete and utter disgrace” by an “unpatriotic prime minister”.
Mordaunt attacked Labour’s defence policy.
She criticised Mr Rayner, who was standing next to her in a random vote that determined their position on stage, for his past votes against the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons programme.
The Commons leader said this meant adversaries such as Russian President Vladimir Putin would suspect Labour’s willingness to use nuclear weapons, adding: “Without credibility we become a target.”
But Rayner said Labour had been clear that the UK would maintain its nuclear deterrent and was in line with Conservative plans to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP when the economy allowed, as revealed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer this week.
She criticised the Conservative government’s cuts to the military, saying they had made Britain an “international laughing stock”.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said her party was also committed to maintaining the UK’s nuclear deterrent and would reverse cuts to armed forces.
The Green Party, Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party (SNP) have all confirmed they are opposed to upgrading Trident, arguing the money would be better spent on other defence areas.
The biggest clash of the night erupted when Mr Mordaunt repeated the Chancellor’s claim that Labour’s plans “would mean a £2,000 tax rise for every working family in our country”.
“That’s a lie,” Mr Rayner replied, adding that the Government had raised taxes to “record levels”.
“Penny, that’s bullshit. You just said we need a strong economy and then you back Liz Truss and crash our economy,” she added.
BBC analysis found this claim to be misleading – the figure was based on the questionable assumption of dividing Labour’s spending by the number of working households over a four-year period.
Meanwhile, during the debate, Cooper acknowledged that the Liberal Democrats’ breach of a 2010 pledge not to increase tuition fees was “certainly a sore point” for the party.
But she argued that during the coalition government the Liberal Democrats “fought the Conservatives every day” to mitigate the impact of austerity.
Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Stephen Flynn also drew multiple applause throughout the night when he claimed both Labour and the Conservatives would continue with their “austerity policies” because of self-imposed rules to reduce debt as a proportion of national income.
He also called for a change in the tone of the debate on immigration, saying “so much of the debate is based on the prejudices of people like Nigel Farage”.
Mr Farage has come under attack from the SNP, Pride and the Green Party over his immigration policy, but he argued that a “population explosion” was driving up house prices and that reducing immigration to “net zero” would solve the problem.
The Prime Minister also appeared to suggest that the NHS, at least in its current tax-funded form, should be abolished, arguing that a French-style health system would provide better results “for the same money”.
But the Reform UK leader’s comments that the election campaign was “boring” and “very boring in Labour’s case” were well received by the audience.
He also called for stronger “stop and search” measures to crack down on knife crime, drawing huge applause.
Green Party co-leader Carla Denier criticised Labour for abandoning its policy to spend £28 billion a year on green investment programmes.
“Tackling climate change has enormous economic and environmental benefits,” Denier argued.
Plaid Kamuli party leader Loon ap Iowelt said distrust in politics had grown over the past 30 years and politicians needed to be honest about tax and make the system fairer.
He called for a fairer tax system to be introduced to ensure people like Mr Sunak do not end up paying less for investment than workers’ “hard work”.
