Who won the ITV general election TV debate? Our writers are divided

For the first time in this election campaign, the two men who could be prime minister went head-to-head in an ITV debate. It was an intense affair, with passionate argument. Rishi Sunak, the Conservative leader, focused on potential tax rises if the other party took power. Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, emphasised failures on immigration and the NHS.

Here, two of our political commentators react. Their views differ on the victor, with Janet Daley favouring Rishi Sunak and Tom Harris arguing that Keir Starmer came out on top. Read their explanations below:

Their opening facial expressions said it all. Starmer looked nearly paralysed with nerves. Sunak seemed extraordinarily (under the circumstances) confident – and he gave one of the best performances I have seen in an election debate.

Perhaps it was that unnerving calm that made Keir decide that he would rather run against Liz Truss – whom he insisted on bringing into the discussion repeatedly. This was, of course, consistent with his determination to talk only about the past and never about the future. Over and over again – on almost every question and every problem that faced the country – Rishi Sunak had to ask, “What are you going to do?”

And over and over again Starmer would not provide an answer. Instead, he insisted on reiterating his one and only message: the chaos and division of the last 14 years, blah-blah. There was one word that he wanted to plant in your mind: change, change, change. But change to what? The frustration sounded genuinely sincere when Rishi demanded to know, “But what are you going to do?” We all want to know.

Prime ministerial debates used to be boring, pre-rehearsed affairs, with every exchange having been carefully and assiduously prepared beforehand.

The ITV debate felt different. While the general public may not yet be engaged in this election so far, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer appeared passionate, even angry. Neither had any hesitation in interrupting and haranguing their rival, despite repeated pleas from moderator Julie Etchingham.

It was the Labour leader who made more of the opportunity, effectively skewering the Prime Minister on his party’s record in government. And under pressure to take responsibility for the Conservatives’ failures in the last 14 years, Sunak’s almost automatic response was to invite us to consider the future, not the past – and also to seek credit for introducing the furlough scheme four years ago.

Starmer was no less stiff and dull than he has always been, but that didn’t matter when he proved more effective than Sunak at relating to the various members of the audience who were posing the questions, channeling Bill Clinton in 1992 (“I feel your pain”). In the past his recitation of his working-class credentials – father was a tool-maker, mother a nurse, etc – has sounded contrived and insincere. This time he struck a real chord with an audience that seemed predisposed to be sympathetic to the Labour leader rather than the Prime Minister.