Starmer vs Sunak – who really won the Question Time special debate?

Both party leaders struggled to persuade the Question Time audience that they can be trusted now, writes John Rentoul

Starmer did a good job of explaining why he had changed his mind about abolishing tuition fees and nationalising the energy companies (PA Wire)

My test for the BBC Question Time special was how honest Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak would be about the trade-offs facing the next government.

So it was encouraging when Keir Starmer, once he had shaken off the inevitable first question about whether he really thought Jeremy Corbyn would make a “great prime minister”, said that the problem that bothered him about delivering for people was “politicians not being honest about how long it’s going to take”.

He was answering a question about NHS waiting lists, and he said he would make a start on day one, “if elected”. But it didn’t take long, under further interrogation by Fiona Bruce, the presenter, for him to cave in to the temptation to make unrealistic promises. Within seconds of talking about the problem of politicians not being honest, he said a Labour government would clear the backlog completely “in the course of the parliament”.