The leaders of the United Kingdom’s two primary political parties faced questions and cross-examination — although not from one another — in a live television debate Monday night.
Following the refusal by Prime Minister Theresa May to face her rivals in a televised debate, the Sky News-Channel 4 co-hosted show saw Mrs May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn responding to questions from the audience and interviewer Jeremy Paxman instead.
Mr Corbyn took the floor first, getting off to a rocky start with questions from an apparently Northern Irish member of the audience on his past association with the IRA, but later finding hit feet — and a rapport with the audience — before losing his cool when questioned on higher taxation.
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When asked on the higher burden that taxpayers would be expected to shoulder under a Labour government Mr Corbyn showed no contrition or sympathy — instead insisting that they were necessary.
Questioned by Channel 4 interviewer Jeremy Paxman, Mr Corbyn was grilled on the apparent discrepancies between his well-known personal convictions and the Labour manifesto as published. While plans to nationalise industries like the railways and the Royal Mail had made it into the manifesto, nationalising banks hadn’t — a key pet project of Mr Corbyn, nor had scrapping Britain’s nuclear weapons, or the British Royal Family.
In an admission that may fear concerns over whether Mr Corbyn has the strength to run the nation, he admitted he had been overruled by his own party on Trident, telling Paxman:” This manifesto is the product of the views of the Labour party, of party conference decisions and of the views put forward by the Shadow Cabinet… That is the decision that has been taken.
“I am not a dictator who writes things to tell people what to do”.
Mrs May also faced tough questions from the audience and Mr Paxman. The Prime Minister was grilled on her party’s promises for the elderly — failing to give a satisfying answer on the so-called ‘dementia tax’, and acknowledging that Scottish electors were able to vote to keep their own winter fuel payments without mentioning English voters, with no English parliament, having no such opportunity themselves.
Despite repeated pressing questioning from Mr Paxman, the Prime Minister refused to answer whether she had changed her mind on the question of Brexit. Having been a relatively enthusiastic campaigner for the United Kingdom remaining in the European Union before apparently switching sides as Prime Minister to become a Brexit champion, the clear inference from the Conservative leader was that she had never truly changed her mind on it being better for Britain to remain in the Union.
Perhaps most notable in the Prime Minister’s performance was the absence of the key campaigning soundbite that has come to dominate this election — “strong and stable” — which peppered the Tory manifesto but wasn’t uttered once during the debate.
Britain goes to the polls in ten days, on June 8th.
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