‘Argy bargy’ in debates turns public off, says Swinney

Two debates have already taken place during the campaign, with another scheduled for Friday.

John Swinney said he found the head-to-head debate between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer ‘pretty confrontational and unenlightening’ (PA) (PA Wire)

Overly aggressive exchanges in TV debates “turn the public off”, First Minister John Swinney has said.

As with other election campaigns since 2010, televised debates between political leaders will be a fixture ahead of the July 4 vote, with a Scottish event and another between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer already having taken place.

Both have been punctuated by tense exchanges between leaders.

But The First Minister – who lamented debates turning into a “shouting match” in his opening statement on STV this week – said such exchanges may be driving people away from politics and overshadowing the real issues.

Speaking during an event in Glasgow on Friday, Mr Swinney said: “I think some of the argy bargy turns the public off – I don’t particularly enjoy it.

“I watched the debate on Tuesday night (between Mr Sunak and Sir Keir), I didn’t particularly enjoy it.

“I thought it was pretty confrontational and unenlightening.

“And, as I’ve said, it disguises the real issues about the public spending crisis.

“So you can have all these political leaders arguing away, but the public have got to engage on the substance.”

The substance of his campaign, the First Minister said, was that a vote for Labour will be for “Tory spending cuts”.

That message, he added, will be echoed by his SNP colleagues, including the party’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, who is due to take part in a BBC debate on Friday night.