Live as Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer in Sky News election special from Grimsby (2024)

William responds to the PM's comments by saying:

The National Service policy might be popular among parents but it's not popular among younger people. The qudruple lock on pensions might be popular among parents and older generations,. but it's not popular with young people.

Why are you moving your party so far away from younger voters when it's the key demographic that will decide our future

The PM says he doesn't view society as "us vs them".

William from Grimsby asks about the quadruple lock on state pensions and plans to introduce National Service, asking why a young person would believe the government has their best interests at heart.

The PM says he is "incredibly excited" for his daughters to do it and it will be "transformative for our country", providing skills and opportunities to set young people up for the rest of their lives.

He says "everywhere I've been people have been really positively talking to me about it".

Amy from Leeds says she was a "lifelong true blue" but is now an "undecided voter". She says that some actions taken by the government make her feel "ashamed", including Mr Sunak's early departure from the D-Day commemoration in Normandy.

She asks how he will rebuild public trust in him.

The prime minister repeats that he made a "mistake" and did not meant to "cause hurt or offence".

Christina from London asks about policing and if the PM believes there is systemic racism and misogyny.

He says it is a "small minority" and it's right that those people are held to account. He adds that the Conservatives will put more police officers on the street, toughen up sentencing, and focus on violence against women and girls.

I also want to make sure our communities are safe, which is why we're putting more police officers on the street, toughening up sentences especially for the most violent crimes. Police numbers today are at a record high and if we're elected we'll put 8,000 more warranted officers on the street. Neighbourhood policing is really important

Mr Sunak is asked by Hamza, an NHS worker, about restoring pride in it and how he will deal with underfunding and staff shortages. He tells the PM he once spent eight hours on a stretcher in an accident and emergency department corridor.

Mr Sunak says his dad was a GP and his mother a pharmacist, adding:

“What we have not done, for not just years but for decades is train enough staff and then be reliant on having to bring people here from abroad.

“In the NHS’s 75-year history it has never, ever had a long-term workforce plan but for the first time it does because I thought that was the right thing to prioritise. It was the NHS’s plan that the Government has fully backed.”

He says the NHS needs to train more doctors, nurses, dentists, "everything, so the NHS will have the staff it needs to reduce the reliance on staff from overseas".

Retired teacher Ian from Grimsby asks the first question. He says mortgages have become more unaffordable, especially for young people such as his 19-year-old daughter.

He says she was hoping to buy a home until mortgage rates went up and she's struggling to find a property she can afford.

The PM says the best way to do this is to get interest rates down.

He says the government will introduce a new version of Help to Buy, enabling them to buy a home with a 5% deposit. He also points to a manifesto pledge to scrap stamp duty for homes up to £425,000 for first time buyers.

However Ian interjects on the stamp duty point: "To be honest Mr Sunak, I don't think she was planning on buying a house that expensive" - to laughs from the audience.

The PM is challenged to "tell our audience something that might make them like you again".

He says his diet is "appalling" and he eats an enormous amount of sugar. He says someone he spoke to today was surprised at the amount of Haribo he gets through.

The PM is told that migration into this country has more than doubled in the last three years from before the country left the EU. He responds that he is "very clear that it's too high".

Beth Rigby calls him "the original Brexiteer" and asks if he can see why people - many of whom may have voted for Brexit - feel betrayed.

He says: "The numbers are too high, I'm not making any bones about that."

He says the figures show the country is on track to halve net migration.

Beth Rigby tells the PM small boat crossings have gone up by 40%, pointing to his promise to stop them.

He says one country, Vietnam, counts for a lot of the new arrivals.

Laughter as PM says national debt was always going to come down over time. He insists: "I never said it would come down overnight".

Beth Rigby says it has now increased.

Beth Rigby asks the PM about his five promises he set out at the start of last year, including halving inflation and growing the economy.

He says bringing down inflation was his key priority and that it's now "back to normal". An audience member interjects at this point, with the PM saying:

It wasn't a given, it was 11%, now it's back to normal which is a result of a lot of hard work. Of course, I know things are not easy, they've been difficult for a while, but what I was absolutely set about doing was making things that little bit easier

Sir Keir said his wife Victoria did not want him to enter politics after he finished as director of public prosecutions.

“My wife was ringing adverts in the papers about well-paid lawyers’ jobs and I said ‘no, I want to serve my country’, which is why, at a late stage, I came into politics to serve my country.”

Asked if his wife was not keen on his decision to go into politics, he replied:

“No she wasn’t at all, she thought it’d be far better to continue being a lawyer on a reasonable salary and not have all of the challenges that you get as a politician.

“But I was clear in my mind, I wanted to come into politics because I wanted to serve my country.”

• On whether he would continue the fuel duty freeze, Sir Keir said: “That has to be decided budget-by-budget, but my track record is we’ve supported the cap on fuel duty every single time it has come up, but I want to do things differently. If we just do things in the same way that we’ve done for the last 14 years, we’ll end up in the same mess. I’m not prepared to do that.”

• On whether he would increase capital gains tax, he said: “That’s not in our manifesto, that is not a choice we’re making, that will not be unveiled tomorrow, there’s no surprises in our manifesto.”

• On whether there would be a review of council tax banding in England, he said: “Council tax is too high for many people, it’s been going up, it went up again this year, but that’s because the Government lost control of the economy.”

There is laughter from the audience as Sir Keir takes a pause and appears briefly speechless after an audience member tells him he believes he's changed, adding "you're like a political robot"

The audience member said he admired “how in touch with the public” the Labour leader appeared when he was director of public prosecutions.

The man added: “But over the last year I feel like you have formed into more of a politician than the person I would have voted for to run the country. You seem more like a political robot. How are you going to convince others like me to vote for you?”

Sir Keir answered by speaking about his work in the Crown Prosecution Service.

He added that he did not apologise for changing the Labour party and told the audience: “I think it probably is a result of coming into politics late, because I am not tribally political, I actually do believe there are good people who vote other than Labour who want their family, their community, and their country to go forward.”

“You don’t seem to answer the question,” the man replied.

Hussain from London says he sends his daughter to a private school and says he would be "priced out" by Labour's plans for private schools to pay VAT.

Sir Keir says "I have nothing against private schools, I absolutely recognises that many parents work hard and save hard to send their children to private schools because they have aspirations for their children" and is applauded as he says he recognises that all parents will have these aspirations.

He says state secondary schools have "thousands of teachers missing in the subjects that we need".

He says getting rid of the tax break for private schools will be used directly to fund more teachers in state secondary schools.

"There's a tax break, you pay VAT on other services but you don't pay it for private schools. We're simply saying we need to find the money to properly fund our state secondary schools

Junior doctor Jonathan from Leeds asks about "abysmal pay and morale" for medics and what Sir Keir will do about it.

He says Labour would "roll up our sleeves, get in the room, settle this dispute in a grown-up way. As soon as we have a bit of grown up politics in this, the better."

Beth Rigby asks if he will pay them more.

He says he will "sit down in a room, negotiate and find a way through this".

Sharon from Grimsby asks how Labour will improve outcomes for the most disdvantaged residents, pointing to child poverty, inadequate housing and increasing numbers using food banks.

The Labour leader says "We need a growth plan for Grimsby" and tells her he wants a government that creates conditions for businesses to thrive.

"I was looking at some of the offshore wind turbines and talking to apprentices here in Grimsby, brilliant young people by the way. They were very skilled...we need more of that, the supply chains for that should be in and around here. That's the sort of challenge that I relish, it's what I want to do on day one".

He says he is "convinced" that a government that matches the ambition of Grimsby can move things forward:

He called for a “growth plan for Grimsby which your fingerprints are on” and a local supply chain for wind energy generation in the North Sea.

Tim Iredale, BBC Look North's political editor for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire tucking into a fish and chip supper in The Spin Room, supplied by Tony’s fish bar in Cleethorpes

Sir Keir says his two children are at "really difficult ages". His son is nearly 16 and his daughter is 13.

On the prospect of becoming prime minister, he said "the only real fear I have is for my family".

"My only fear really is the impact it's going to have on them, that's why we never name them in public, I want them to be able to walk to school and have their own lives.

He says "not at all" when asked if he has any doubt that he is up to the job.

Beth Rigby asks the Labour leader: "Some people say you change your mind all the time, some people say you're boring and stiff. Tell me a morsel about yourself that will change people's lives."

He says "all my life I have believed in service", detailing his previous roles.

He says he was clear in his mind that he wanted to come into politics to serve his country.

Beth Rigby asks about the Labour leader personally, saying he paid £44,000 in income tax, putting him in the top 2-3% of top earners. She asks if he would personally be happy to pay more tax.

He says: "Yes of course."

He says his family couldn't make ends meet growing up, saying "I know what it feels like to be anxious about the next bill."

He says he is thinking about working people who want living standards to go up.

Beth Rigby asks Keir Starmer about the ten pledges he gave when standing as Labour leader and whether there is a "trust issue", given his change on position on some issues, saying: "I think you've dropped six or seven of them".

He says he has changed position on some because he has asked if they are "country first, party second".

She asks about his pledge to raise tax on the top 5% of earners and why this was ditched. Sir Keir responds: "All of our plans are fully costed, fully funded, we will not raise tax on working people. I want to do things differently,

"I accept that previous Labour leaders have pulled the tax lever every time. I want to grow our economy."

The event is underway with Sir Keir Starmer facing questions from Beth Rigby

Author Tom Baldwin, is shadowing Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer on his visit to the Grimsby and Cleethorpes seat in order to have an updated chapter for his book Keir Starmer: The Biography. It was published earlier this year.

He was with the Labour leader when he did a round table meeting with local business leaders, including representatives of Grimsby Town FC, chief executive Polly Bancroft and club vice chairman, Jason Stockwood, who presented Starmer with a GTFC hat.

Tom told Grimsby Live reporter Peter Craig: "Keir understands how important a football club is to its community. He told them he does not want this to be the last of the conversation and listened to their views."

The author added: "It is the fourth or fifth time he has been to Grimsby. It is part of the Red Wall and so symbolic of the aim of Labour coming home. The area hits a lot of Labour policies, including renewables from off-shore wind farms. Keir met a number of apprentices, whose grandparents went out on Grimsby's fishing fleets and now their grandchildren are harvesting energy at sea. We see a lot of the investment money normally going to Manchester and Leeds. Grimsby becomes part of the project of national renewal."

A crucial part of bringing energy ashore for electrical generation will continue to create jobs locally. Tom said the points of supply of energy from Great British Energy, a publically-owned clean power company will benefit the local economy by creating more jobs and cheaper bills. "Fish was always cheaper in Grimsby than it was in London, so why can't energy be cheaper here too?" said Tom.

Supporting Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer at the Battle for Number 10 event in Grimsby are two Shadow ministers, Jonathan Ashworth and Wes Streeting, the health spokesman for Labour.

Mr Ashworth, Shadow Paymaster General said: "Grimsby is hugely important to Labour. We had a first class MP in Melanie Onn. She was a fighter for Grimsby day in and day out. But the voice of Grimsby has been missing in Parliament since the Conservatives won.

"The Prime Minister has pulled the money for Levelling Up. It is a betrayal of Grimsby and the wider Humberside region and northern Lincolnshire area. Labour has the plan to bring good well-paid jobs, infrastructure and lower energy bills for people of this area."

• The Sky News leaders event at Grimsby Town Hall starts at 7.30pm
• Both leaders will have a 20 minute sit-down interview with Sky News political editor Beth Rigby
• There will then be 25 minutes of questions from the audience at Grimsby Town Hall
• Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will be interviewed and take questions first, followed by Rishi Sunak

Sky News correspondent Sophy Ridge says she believes Prime Minister Rishi Sunak "needs a game changing moment" at tonight's special event.

The event will see 20-minute interviews with Beth Rigby for both the PM and opposition leader, first with Keir Starmer and then 25 minutes of questions from the audience.

This will be repeated for Rishi Sunak so viewers can compare the two politicians.

Chief Political Correspondent for Sky News, Jon Craig said the seat of Grimsby and Cleethorpes is symbolic of the battle for Number 10 between the two main parties, Labour and the Conservatives.

"It is a key battleground for the General Election. It is symbolic of the ambitions of the two big parties. Labour want to show they can win back Red Wall seats, like Grimsby and the Conservatives are desperate to hold on to it and show it as an example of the investment of so much Levelling Up money."

He recalled how Great Grimsby was a Labour seat since the end of the Second World War and had some "Titan" figures from Labour as MPs. He remembered how Foreign Secretary under the Wilson Government, Tony Crosland hosted United States Secretary of State, Henry Kissenger who visited Blundell Park to watch the Mighty Mariners play Shrewsbury.

Jon added his memories of watching long-serving Grimsby MP, the late Austin Mitchell at Westminster, during his near-40 years serving the town. He fondly remembered the "explosive interview" Austin, a former news anchorman, did with football managers, Brian Clough and Don Revie.

Beth Rigby said tonight: "It’ll be my job to scrutinise both the Prime Minister and Keir Starmer on their commitments to the country tonight. But I’m really interested to see how they handle the questions from our audience of voters in the Sky News target town of Grimsby.

"Many of them tell us they feel really let down by both political parties and I’m sure they’ll take these men to task tonight. They’ll also get a chance to say whether they feel their questions have been answered. There’s a lot at stake in this election and I hope these 20-minute in-depth interviews, alongside the audience interactions, will shed more light than heat as voters make their decisions.

Jet and handler PC Craig Ellwood of West Yorkshire Police - all of the rooms in the Town Hall are being extensively searched

Our reporter Peter Craig is in the Spin Room at the Town Hall tonight - normally the Banqueting Hall

This is the stage inside Grimsby Town Hall - the set has been constructed over a number of days. Picture from Sky News