You can sneer but you don’t have ANY ideas, snaps Rishi as Keir hails National Service ‘desperate’
RISHI Sunak told Sir Keir Starmer all he can do is "sneer" as he does not have "any ideas for the future" .
The two leaders clashed over the PM's plan for a new form of compulsory national service in their first TV showdown.
The Labour boss branded the policy "desperate" and "not sensible".
Asked what he would do to help younger generations, Sir Keir also said: "What I won’t be doing is sending you on national service, some sort of ‘teenage Dad’s Army’, which would be what the Prime Minister would say.”
But the PM blasted Sir Keir for mocking the policy, hitting out: "All you can do is sneer at it because you don't have any ideas for the future.
"You don't have anything that is bold and that is going to transform our country for the better."
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Mr Sunak - who announced the policy last week - insisted voters have already warmly welcomed the policy.
But there was laughter from the audience as the Prime Minister said the national service would be “transformational for young people in our country, giving them the skills and opportunity they need to succeed in life”.
His election pledge to bring back military service would involve school leavers either enrolling on a 12-month military placement or spending one weekend each month volunteering in their community.
He said said he wanted young people to have “financial security” and not “saddle you with £2,000 of extra taxes”.
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Top moments of the general election debate
- Sir Keir said he would never use private healthcare in any circumstances. Mr Sunak said he would.
- Keir Starmer gets the first laugh of the night when he tears into PM's claim that “nhs waiting lists are coming down” .
- The PM cheered by the audience as he berated Sir Keir over how he would resolve NHS strikes.
- The Prime Minister hints at leaving the European Convention on Human Rights: "If I'm forced to choose between securing our borders and our country's security or a foreign court, I'm going to choose our country's security every single time."
- Sir Keir's eye roll when Mr Sunak kept interrupting him.
- Presenter Julie Etchingham forced to intervene when the two men kept shouting over each other: “Please, an appeal from me not to speak over one another.
- Keir Starmer called Rishi Sunak “the British expert on tax rises”.
- The PM attacks Starmer for helping hate preacher Abu Qatada fight his deportation in court in 2008.