The countdown is almost over. In a matter of hours, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer will answer questions from Beth Rigby and the public at Sky News’ special leaders’ event.
The battle for number 10 will be broadcast live from Grimsby, with each leader facing 20 minutes of questions from Sky’s award-winning political editor and 25 minutes of questions from the public.
In an FA Cup-style draw where the leader goes first, on Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge, I drew the red ball from the bag first and the blue second, meaning Sir Keir goes first, followed by Mr Sunak.
Earlier this week, speaking to Sky News, the Labor leader said: “I’m really looking forward to it because I like being able to speak directly to Sky viewers and the Grimsby public.
“I think having a little more time will allow us to develop some of the answers we need to make.”
The Sky News programme, starting at 7pm, is the second live TV interrogation of the two 10 Downing Street rivals during this election campaign, following an hour-long debate on ITV.
At the ITV debate last weekthat a YouGov snap poll suggested Sunak was down 52% to 48%, the two leaders had 45 seconds to answer each question put to them.
Explaining the format of the Sky News programme, executive editor and managing director Jonathan Levy said: “People said they wanted to hear more from Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer.
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“So Sky News is giving them more time to tell you about their plans for the future. Every candidate – 45 minutes, not 45 seconds – in depth and unfiltered. We’re telling the nation the full story, first.”
Sky News main presenter in the UK Sarah Jane Mee will be among the representative audience – drawn from the local and national area – as they ask their questions to Mr Sunak and Sir Keir at 25-minute intervals.
The interrogation of the two leaders comes approximately halfway through the six-week general election campaign, with election day on July 4.
It also comes at a time when the latest YouGov poll for Sky News, carried out on Monday and Tuesday, showed Labor on 38% (down three points from last week), the Conservatives on 18% ( drop of one point), reformist Britain just behind the Conservatives. by 17% (up one point) and the LibDems by 15% (up four points after the release of their manifesto).
And it comes between the launch of the two main parties’ manifestos, a day after the Conservatives launched theirs at the Silverstone motor racing circuit and a day before Labour’s launch on Thursday.
The new Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes parliamentary constituency is a key battlefield this election and Sky News has been broadcasting regularly from both cities throughout the campaign.
Previously there were two electoral districts: Great Grimsby, Labor from 1945 until the Conservative “Red Wall” victory in 2019, and Cleethorpes, Labor since it was created in 1997 but Conservative since 2010.
The former Great Grimsby constituency was steeped in political history, largely because it was represented from 1959 until his death in 1977 by a giant of Labor Party politics, Anthony Crosland.
He was a Labor modernizer long before Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson and was the author of the 1956 bible of Labor moderates, The Future of Socialism, which had enormous influence among the centre-left.
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He held various positions in the cabinet of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan and was also a huge football fan, taking Henry Kissinger to watch Grimsby Town v Gillingham while he was Foreign Secretary in 1976.
After Crosland’s sudden death in 1977, TV presenter Austin Mitchell – who became famous for refereeing an explosive live studio clash between Brian Clough and Don Revie in 1974, immortalized in the film The Damned United – retained the seat for just 520 votes in a by-election. .
Mitchell was one of the first to campaign on Parliament television and presented a political programme, Target, on Sky News from 1989 to 1998 with former Conservative minister Norman Tebbit, who is now 93.
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A colorful and sometimes eccentric character, Mitchell temporarily changed his name in 2002 to Austin Haddock in a publicity stunt as part of a campaign to boost Grimsby’s fishing industry.
After retiring in 2015, the constituency remained Labor until the 2019 general election, when it became one of the Red Wall seats won by the Conservatives. He had been Labor since 1945, but it was not always a safe seat.
Cleethorpes was Labor in the Blair and Brown years until the Conservatives won it in 2010. Like Grimsby, it is a former fishing town and is now a seaside resort with a beach, pier and amusements.
Both towns voted strongly in favor of leave in the 2016 EU referendum, 71.4% in Great Grimsby and 69.5% in Cleethorpes. Both cities have received up to £20 million to boost government cash in recent years.
The special Battle For Number 10 Leaders event, airs tonight from 7pm to 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 social channels. It is also available to watch on Sky Showcase.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
