SIR Keir Starmer loves The Sun’s Never Mind The Ballots – but wants to duck a head to head with Rishi Sunak in front of our readers.
The Labour chief revealed he will take part in two telly debates as he hit out at how predictable the Prime Minister is.
It came as the party leader was under pressure to take part in a debate a week over the six-week campaign.
The Sun has invited both aspiring PMs to a head to head on our show — with an audience of Sun readers.
But only Mr Sunak has said yes — with Sir Keir yesterday insisting he’d rather engage “directly” with voters rather than his main opponent.
Speaking during a campaign visit to a builder’s merchants yard in Leyland, Lancashire, he said: “I am certainly not taking them (Sun readers) for granted. I think I did Never Mind The Ballots, I think I was the first one on, which was fantastic to do.
“I am very, very happy to engage with Sun readers. The problem with a head to head with Rishi Sunak is that I know what he is going to say. He is going to say everything is fine.
“Now, it may be true for him but it isn’t fine for Sun readers.
“I’d prefer to engage directly with the voters, directly with Sun readers. Now there will be some head to head debates, that’s part of the tradition of the elections.
“But I think it’s much more important to debate directly with your readers and to hear what they have got to say.”
The Prime Minister wants SIX TV debates over the course of the campaign in a bid to claw back Labour’s 20-point poll lead.
He said: “I think what the British people want are answers – answers to the questions about what he would actually do if he became prime minister, and how much it’s going to cost them in higher taxes.”
The Tories publicly mocked the Labour leader with an attack advert claiming Sir Keir was “not coming to a debate near you”.
