Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer will go head to head once again in a BBC debate featuring only the Prime Minister and his opposition leader as the race to July 4 nears its conclusion.
The BBC will host what is likely to be the last back and forth of the 2024 campaign trail, with only a Question Time special left to go beyond the programme on June 26.
It will mark one of Mr Sunak’s last opportunities to sway voters in his uphill battle to July 4 one week before they head to the polls, which currently predict a Tory wipeout at the hands of Labour.
- Follow The Telegraph’s live general election coverage
Here is the remaining debate schedule at a glance:
- June 26, 8:15pm on the BBC
- June 28, 8pm on the BBC
When is the next general election debate?
The BBC will host what is likely to be the 2024 election campaign’s final TV debate on Wednesday June 26 – one week before the country will head to the polls.
The programme will be another head-to-head clash between Mr Sunak and Mr Starmer only, similar to the ITV debate they took part in on June 4, and hosted by Mishal Husain.
It will kick off at 8:15pm and run until 9:30pm.
The programme was intended to be hosted by Sophie Raworth, but she has since been asked to step down after fracturing her ankle, according to the BBC.
Sir Keir agreed to only two head-to-head discussions at the beginning of the election campaign, saying he would not speak at any of the larger TV debates happening either.
Question Time special - June 28, 8pm on the BBC
Following complaints from the leader of Reform after he was not invited to attend the first Question Time special, the broadcaster has announced a second programme on Friday June 28.
The corporation said it has added the second billing to its election coverage to reflect “the fact that it is clear from across a broad range of opinion polls that the support for Reform UK has been growing”.
Mr Farage had demanded a spot on Thursday’s programme after an opinion poll put his party ahead of the Conservatives and has said he is “pleased” with the BBC’s recognition of his party’s growing favour.
The Question Time special will be hosted by Fiona Bruce from 8pm and the Green Party has also been invited to attend.
How many debates will there be before the election?
So far, a total of seven debates are being in the run-up to the general election on July 4, with two left to go following the BBC’s special Question Time broadcast on June 20.
The first head-to-head debate between Mr Sunak and Sir Keir on June 4 came before a seven-way BBC debate June 7, which saw Nigel Farage, Penny Mordaunt and Angela Rayner battle it out alongside four other leading party representatives.
The Labour and Tory party’s leaders then featured again in Sky News’s The Battle for Number 10 programme on June 12.
On June 13, Nigel Farage, Penny Mordaunt and Angela Rayner returned alongside four other party leaders in a second seven-way election debate hosted by ITV, which included 90 minutes of questioning.
The four main party leaders, including Mr Sunak, Sir Keir,the SNP’s John Swinney and Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, took part in the most recent television special on June 20. The leaders did not go head to head and instead were given 30-minute slots to answer audience questions.
The debate announcements were confirmed after the Tories had pressed Sir Keir to take part in a record six debates during the six-week election countdown.
Conservative sources had dubbed the opposition leader “the knight that won’t fight” and “Sir Fear Starmer” after he failed to sign up to their weekly debate demand.
Labour headquarters indicated instead that their leader would take part in two head-to-head debates against Mr Sunak, matching what Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn did ahead of the 2019 election.
What channels are the debates on?
The BBC, ITV and Sky News have hosted debates in an array of formats in the race to the general election.
All broadcasts from the BBC are available on BBC1, BBC News and are live on the corporation’s streaming platforms BBC Iplayer.
The BBC also confirmed they will air several debates on local radio.
ITV will show their programmes on their main channel ITV1, as well as their steaming service ITVX. For those watching from Scotland, the ITV debates will be on the equivalent channel STV.
Elsewhere, Sky News will air their broadcast on Freeview and stream the action on their website and social media channels. Each platform has also streamed the programmes like on Youtube.
The Telegraph will be providing live coverage of all the debates with expert analysis and reaction.
Will the debates clash with any football fixtures?
There have been several clashes between debate timings and football fixtures – an inevitability with the jam-packed TV schedules.
Football fans and politics watchers were torn on June 7, when the BBC’s debate with the seven parties coincided with England’s international warm-up with Iceland on Channel 4.
England played Denmark the same day as the BBC’s Question Time special, but at an earlier kick-off time of 5pm meant the match had finished before the election programme at 8pm.
When is the general election?
The general election will take place on July 4 as the country heads to the polls between 7am and 10pm to have their say over the next prime minister.
It was confirmed by Rishi Sunak in a rain-sodden speech outside of Downing Street on May 22 that the election would happen six weeks later.
Both the Prime Minister and other party leaders have been on the campaign trail since then in a bid to win over voters through measures such as the TV debates.
