General election debate: ITV to host Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer head-to-head

The first head-to-head general election debate will be hosted by ITV next week, the broadcaster has confirmed.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will face each other on Tuesday, 4 June, at 21:00 BST.

The hour-long programme – titled Sunak v Starmer: The ITV Debate – will be moderated by presenter Julie Etchingham, who also hosted debates in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

ITV said it also planned to broadcast an interview programme with other party leaders and a multi-party debate.

The head-to-head debate between Mr Sunak and Sir Keir will take place in front of a live audience.

Michael Jermey, ITV’s director of news and current affairs, said: “Millions of viewers value the election debates.

“They provide a chance to see and hear the party leaders set out their pitch to the country, debate directly with each other and take questions from voters.

“ITV is pleased to be broadcasting the first debate in this year’s election campaign.”

Other broadcasters, such as the BBC, Channel 4 and Sky News, have not yet announced plans for any debates.

However, it’s widely expected that there will be at least one more head-to-head debate between the two main leaders before the election on 4 July.

The BBC confirmed on Tuesday that Clive Myrie and Laura Kuenssberg will host its election night coverage.

Channel 4’s election night coverage team will include Rory Stewart, Alastair Campbell and Emily Maitlis, while Kay Burley will anchor Sky News’ election results broadcast.