Sunak and Starmer final debate: What to expect

In brief...

• This is the last major event before voting day on 4 July, and is likely to involve personal and political clashes between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer.
• Tory Betting Scandal will be a significant issue for the Conservative Party, with Sunak criticised for his delayed response.
• Debate topics are likely to include Tory mishaps and Labour's tax plans, with each leader trying to leverage these issues to sway voters.

Date announced. Manifestos dropped. TV debates.

That’s pretty much the run of any General Election timeline, and the only major milestone after tonight’s final debate is voting day on 4 July.

But what can you expect to see in this BBC showdown? And how will Rishi Sunak deal with questions on the string of Tory mishaps during the campaign?

In this head-to-head with Labour leader Keir Starmer, things are likely to get personal as the former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition take their last chance to win over voters – or attempt to put political problems behind them.

What have The News Agents said about it?

Despite competition from other campaign blunders (leaving D-Day early, talking about going without Sky TV as a child) it's the betting scandal that really seems to have done damage to the Tories.

As details slowly unfolded, it took weeks for Sunak to take decisive action over the alleged bets placed by Conservatives, with two candidates deselected on 25 June – just a day before he faced Starmer in the final BBC debate.

"If you don't get ahead of the story, it will come and run you over – and it's come and run him over," said Jon Sopel.

"We should talk about the timing of this. Rishi Sunak has the last Prime Ministerial debate on BBC One, with Mishal Husain chairing it, and I suspect the Tory Party suddenly thought: 'if we don't do this today, the debate is going to be awful'. We'd better do this."

"Rishi Sunak does not see the trajectory of these things so is making tactical decisions, whereas the strategy should be to clear this up as fast as possible.

Emily Maitlis referenced recent More In Common polling, which revealed the betting scandal was known about by almost as many people as the backlash to Sunak leaving D-Day celebrations in Normandy to attend an ITV interview.

"The debate will have a live audience, and we know from the More in Common polling, this is one of those scandals people understand," she said.

"There are scandals people don't understand – to do with lobbying or arms sales – there are a lot of grey areas. People understand an illicit bet because if it was in your power, to get your bets right, who wouldn't?

Sopel said Sunak still hasn't "drawn a line under this", adding that the story could rumble on into the final week of election campaigning, calling it "corrosive and deadly for the Conservative Party."

What can you expect to see in the final leaders' debate?

• More on the betting scandal

As The News Agents said, Rishi Sunak has not drawn a conclusive line under the situation, with a total of five Tories now involved in placing bets on either the date or outcome of the election.

It has led political headlines for days now, and there will be no escaping questions on the situation for the Tory leader. It will also be an easy target for Keir Starmer to lead an attack on Tory morality.

• 'My dad was a toolmaker'

By this point, we all know precisely what Keir Starmer's parents did when he was growing up. Dad was a toolmaker, mum was a nurse. Meanwhile Rishi Sunak was helping out in his mum's pharmacy.

Starmer has hammered home the details of his upbringing compared to the relative privilege of the Tory leader's early years. But when the Labour leader repeated his line during a previous Sky News debate, it drew laughs from the audience, which many believed to be because of how many times they had heard it.

Starmer claimed the audience showed "disrespect" to his dad in an interview with GB News following the debate.

But you can bet he'll mention it again over the 75 minutes of the final debate.

• Labour's supposed £2,000 tax increase

Keir Starmer has repeatedly denied claims Labour will raise taxes to meet some of the targets in their manifesto, but Conservatives have repeatedly stated a Labour government would tax the average person an extra £2,000 a year if they came to power.

And you'll almost certainly hear it again, as Sunak does all he can to deflect from the betting scandal, D-Day and Sky TV questions during the debate.

Starmer refused to rule out any tax rises under a potential five year Labour term during a recent interview on LBC, but the Tories' £2,000 claim has faced intense scrutiny, with even the top Treasury civil servant warning that it should not be shared as having been produced by the civil service.

• 'Beware a Labour supermajority'

This is a more recent one. A number of prominent Conservative MPs have warned about the potential of the Labour Party winning a 'supermajority' of votes at the July election.

The only problem with this? It doesn't mean anything. It has some relevance in US politics, but not in the UK, where a governing party's power is the same no matter what majority they have – super or otherwise.

What else do you need to know?

• The audience in tonight's debate are independently selected, not picked by the BBC.
• A coin is tossed to decide where each leader stands and who delivers their closing thoughts first.
• Neither Rishi Sunak or Keir Starmer know what the questions will be in advance.

Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents podcast now.