Sky News has held an FA Cup-style draw to determine who will face questions first in its special leaders’ event on Wednesday – Rishi Sunak or Sir Keir Starmer.
The Conservative and Labour leaders will answer questions from Beth Rigby, as well as members of the public, during the Battle For Number 10 broadcast.
The running order has now been decided live on Sky News as chief political correspondent Jon Craig carried out the draw.
Explaining the draw, Craig said: “This is a bag with two balls in it – one is red and one is blue.
“This is not a time for soundbites but I do feel the hand of history is in this bag right now.”
Image: The running order was decided live on Sky News
As he drew the first ball, Craig said: “This is the moment – it’s red. That means Sir Keir Starmer goes first.”
Guto Harri, former Downing Street director of communications, said: “Rishi gets the last word.”
Award-winning political editor Rigby will scrutinise the leaders on their commitments to the country during 20-minute in-depth interviews.
The Battle For Number 10 – a Sky News Leaders Special Event will air live on Sky News on Wednesday from 7pm from Grimsby – an area expected to play a key role in the election.
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Sky News’s lead UK presenter Sarah-Jane Mee will be among the representative audience – drawn from the local area and nationally – as they put their questions to Mr Sunak and Sir Keir in 25-minute slots.
It will be the second televised event with the two party leaders, coming halfway through the general election campaign and just three weeks ahead of polls opening. At the first leaders’ debate last week, Mr Sunak and Sir Keir were given 45 seconds to respond to each question put to them.
Image: Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer will take part in Sky News’ leaders’ special. Pics: Reuters
Sky News executive editor and managing editor Jonathan Levy said: “People said they wanted to hear more from Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, so Sky News is giving them more time to tell you about their plans for your future. Each candidate – 45 minutes, not 45 seconds… in-depth and unfiltered.
“We’re giving the nation the full story, first.”
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Starmer prepares for Sky’s leadership event
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Grimsby turned Conservative for the first time since the end of the Second World War in 2019, with many people at the time feeling a cultural rift with the Labour Party.
The constituency has now been combined with Cleethorpes, where the Tories have been in power since 2010, but support for them is fading.
Since its formation in 1997, Cleethorpes has been a bellwether seat, backing the largest party in Westminster.
The Battle For Number 10 Leaders Special Event, airs on Wednesday from 7pm-10pm on Sky News – free wherever you get your news.
Freeview channel 233, Sky 501, Virgin 603, BT 313 and streaming on the Sky News website, app and across social channels. It is also available to watch on Sky Showcase.
Rachel Reeves has hinted that taxes are likely to be raised this autumn after a major U-turn on the government’s controversial welfare bill.
Sir Keir Starmer’s Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill passed through the House of Commons on Tuesday after multiple concessions and threats of a major rebellion.
MPs ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to universal credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.
Initially aimed at saving £5.5bn, it now leaves the government with an estimated £5.5bn black hole – close to breaching Ms Reeves’s fiscal rules set out last year.
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Rachel Reeves’s fiscal dilemma
In an interview with The Guardian, the chancellor did not rule out tax rises later in the year, saying there were “costs” to watering down the welfare bill.
“I’m not going to [rule out tax rises], because it would be irresponsible for a chancellor to do that,” Ms Reeves told the outlet.
More on Rachel Reeves
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“We took the decisions last year to draw a line under unfunded commitments and economic mismanagement.
“So we’ll never have to do something like that again. But there are costs to what happened.”
Meanwhile, The Times reported that, ahead of the Commons vote on the welfare bill, Ms Reeves told cabinet ministers the decision to offer concessions would mean taxes would have to be raised.
The outlet reported that the chancellor said the tax rises would be smaller than those announced in the 2024 budget, but that she is expected to have to raise tens of billions more.
Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she would, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”
In her first comments after the incident, Ms Reeves said she was having a “tough day” before adding: “People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday.
“Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job.”
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“In PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang,” he said. “That’s what it was yesterday.
“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”