Key takeaways from BBC’s Question Time election special

With just two weeks to go until Election Day, leaders of the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and SNP parties faced tough questions from a BBC Question Time audience in York.

Rishi Sunak, Sir Keir Starmer, Sir Ed Davey and John Swinney each had 30 minutes to make their arguments.

For two hours, party leaders discussed a variety of topics, but two words kept coming up: mistakes and trust.

Sir Ed admitted mistakes over his party’s U-turn on scrapping tuition fees, as well as his handling of the Post Office scandal. Swinney acknowledged the turbulent years of his own party.

Audience members asked Sir Keir how they could trust him after changes of opinion in large political areas. And Sunak was pressed on how he could restore trust after what one audience member called his party’s “antics”.

From playing in sandboxes to falling off paddleboards, one audience member wondered if Sir Ed’s “antics” were really prime ministerial.

Another voter said that his party was not going to be elected and therefore its manifesto did not have to be realistic.

Sir Ed said politicians should take voters’ concerns seriously, but not themselves.

He maintained that his campaign style was designed to draw attention to genuine problems, including mental health or the sewage.

It’s been 14 years since Sir Ed’s party first partnered with the Conservatives, but the Liberal Democrats still face questions over that move and, specifically, over their decision to abandon a promise to scrap tuition fees once will enter the government.

Sir Ed, who served as a minister in the 2010 coalition government, said it was a “scarring experience” but argued his party does not get “enough credit” for the things it stopped the Conservatives from doing.

However, he acknowledged that his party “was punished” by its time in government and told voters that his mission now was to “defeat as many Tory MPs as possible”.

Mr. Swinney faced tough questions from the audience: “How did it go so wrong?” asked one.

But he was also questioned by a self-described “long-term supporter” of the SNP. The questioner wondered how the party could be trusted to lead an independent Scotland when it had “destroyed itself from the top down”.

Swinney highlighted achievements such as lifting children out of poverty and expanding early child care.

He avoided saying whether his party would interpret the SNP’s loss of MPs in the election as a sign that the Scottish people do not want independence.

Swinney was candid about his party’s “turbulent time” but avoided explicitly addressing one of the main problems bedeviling the SNP.

He avoided any mention of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has been investigated over SNP funding; and her husband Peter Murrell, accused of embezzlement. Both deny any wrongdoing.

Last week, Labor leader Sir Keir attacked the Conservative manifesto, describing it as a “Jeremy Corbyn-style manifesto”.

So why did Sir Keir back Corbyn in the 2019 general election? asked an audience member.

Sir Keir said he campaigned for Labor in 2019 because he wanted to see “good colleagues” back in Parliament, and the defeat taught him valuable lessons.

Fiona Bruce repeatedly asked him if he was serious when, in 2019, he said Jeremy Corbyn would be a “great prime minister”.

The Labor leader did not answer the question directly, instead emphasizing that he had been supporting his party.

Finally he added that he thought Corbyn would have been a better prime minister than Boris Johnson.

Asked about high rents, Sir Keir said he wanted to stop landlords pitting potential tenants against each other in a bid to drive up rents.

He said it wasn’t fair to the people and promised to pass legislation to stop the practice.

But he seemed confused when asked for details about how a new plan would work.

The first question Sunak faced was brutal. “Do you feel any shame in leading the Conservatives?” He asked an audience member to applaud those around him.

Sunak sought to highlight the differences between him and his predecessors. He said “mistakes had been made” and added that he had argued forcefully against Liz Truss’s policies.

He urged voters to judge him “on my 18 months.”

The Conservative leader enthusiastically defended his plan to reintroduce national service for young people, arguing it could transform lives.

When asked how young people would be forced to do so, the prime minister said there would be sanctions, but avoided being explicit.

He said European countries tried “all sorts of things” including driving licenses and “access to finance” but he did not commit to anything and said he would instead set up a Royal Commission to consider the details.

For the final question, an audience member asked whether Sunak would consider leaving the European Court of Human Rights to achieve his plans to send people to Rwanda.

The prime minister said he would do so if he felt the court was undermining national security.

That statement provoked applause but also cries of “shame” from the public.