Keir Starmer wriggles on why he backed Jeremy Corbyn for PM in 2019 saying he 'wanted to be re-elected' and 'didn't think Labour would win' as he is grilled by audience on BBC Question Time election special

Keir Starmer dodged on why he backed Jeremy Corbyn for PM tonight as he faced a BBC Question Time grilling.

The Labour leader wriggled as he was challenged on why voters should 'trust' him, arguing he wanted to be 're-elected'.

Asked why he claimed that the left-winger would be a 'great PM', Sir Keir said: 'It wasn't a question that arose because I didn't think we would win that election.'

He added: 'I was campaigning for the Labour Party... I wanted to be re-elected.'

Sir Keir was also berated for refusing to give a target on reducing immigration, his shifting position over whether women can have penises, and whether adding VAT to private school fees would heap pressure on the state sector. 

With just a fortnight to go until July 4, the Labour leader and Rishi Sunak are taking turns being interrogated by a studio audience.

The increasingly grim picture for Mr Sunak was underlined this evening with a poll showing Nigel Farage's Reform overtaking the Tories. Redfield & Wilton became the latest firm to detect a 'crossover' moment, putting the insurgents on 19 per cent compared to 18 per cent for the Conservatives.

Although the figures are within the margin of error they come on top of a host of other apocalyptic findings in large-scale research using the so-called MRP methodology.

YouGov suggested that the Tories face being reduced to just 108 seats, while Savanta went further to suggest Labour could win more than 500 and leave the Tories with just over 50.

During the programme this evening, an audience member asked Sir Keir: 'You criticised the Tory manifesto as Jeremy Corbyn-like. Anything you want can go in it, nothing is costed. Why did you back his original manifesto in 2019?'

He replied: 'In 2019 I campaigned for the Labour Party as I've always campaigned for the Labour Party.'

He said that afterwards it became clear the electorate 'thought it was too much and they wanted to see something which was fully costed and fully funded.'

Host Fiona Bruce then repeatedly challenged him over his one-time statement Mr Corbyn would make a great prime minister.

'It wasn't a question that really arose because I didn't think we were going to win the election,' Sir Keir said.

When Bruce asked for a yes or no answer to whether he meant it, there was laughter from the audience when he did not give one, instead saying that Mr Corbyn would be a better premier than Boris Johnson.

Sir Keir claimed he was a 'common sense politician' when asked why he had not kept a promise to abolish university tuition fees.

Asked why he had backtracked on the pledge, the Labour leader told the Question Time audience: 'We don't have the money to do everything we want to do. We do want to change the tuition fees.

'But I have a choice to make, which was of the available money do I use it for getting rid of the tuition fees… or do I use that money to get our waiting lists down? That is a political decision and I took it.

'I am not going to do the tuition fees abolition, because I want to put that money to get our NHS back on its feet.'

Sir Keir also said he chose Labour's plan for a windfall tax on oil and gas companies over nationalising energy companies, as the latter would require huge amounts of money to 'pay off the shareholders'.

The Labour leader said: 'I am a common sense politician. I work through the issues and to me it did not make sense to nationalise energy and not get the bills down, so I decided we would go for getting the bills down.'

Sir Keir said he agreed with Tony Blair's recent comment that a woman has a vagina and a man has a penis.

But Sir Keir said that biology was different to gender. 'There are many people who don't identify with the gender they are born into,' he said.

Pressed on plans to remove tax breaks from private schools, Sir Keir said he knew 'how hard people work' to pay for private school fees, but said he wanted 'all children to have the same options'.

Sir Keir's poll advantage, and the impact of Reform's advance, means Labour are increasing looking set for a massive majority. 

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Home Secretary James Cleverly, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt are among those shown as likely to lose their seats in the huge surveys.

The bleakest of the polls, conducted using the so-called MRP method, even found that Mr Sunak could be defeated in Richmond & Northallerton - where he has a 24,000 majority. 

That would mark the first time a sitting PM has shared the fate of Michael Portillo, who was memorably ejected from his constituency in 1997. 

The Question Time election special is being hosted by Fiona Bruce in York from 8pm. 

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey will take the first turn, followed by SNP leader John Swinney.

Sir Keir will go next and finally Rishi Sunak. BBC bosses will be hoping the programme can pick up viewers who had been watching the England v Denmark Euros clash beforehand.   

There are claims that CCHQ is diverting funding to ultra-safe seats in a desperate bid to avoid a complete meltdown in a fortnight's time. 

However, Cabinet minister Michael Gove tried to install a sense of calm as he toured broadcast studios this morning. 

He admitted the polls were 'not the cheeriest reading. But the Aberdonian Levelling-Up Secretary, who is not standing at the election, likened the party to the Scotland football team - plucky underdogs who don't give up.

He told Sky New this morning: 'There are opinion polls, as I've acknowledged and as we both know, that are not great, but it's not the 90th minute, we're not in ''Fergie time'' yet.'

'There is still an opportunity for us to make these arguments and as we make these arguments,  my experience ... is that when you do talk to voters, outline some of the tax dangers, outline some of Labour's plans for the future, then people do think twice.

'People do recognise that by voting Conservatives you are both ensuring that there is a strong Conservative voice in Parliament, but also you are doing everything you can to prevent a series of tax increases that won't just hit pensioners and first-time buyers, but also will hit the economy in the guts.'

He added: 'I'm a Scotland fan, so you wait until the final whistle.

'Sometimes it looks as though the odds are against you, but you keep on fighting.'

A Cabinet minister told The Times: 'Colleagues are understandably concerned about their area but some of these projections are beyond people's wildest nightmares.'

Another said: 'The country has made a fundamental decision overall. Anything that is said about tax or anything else is ignored. 

'There is no way of sorting this. You don't give up locally. But there is no quick fix to this.' 

Meanwhile, the Savanta poll found Suella Braverman would be forced out, alongside Mr Sunak. Liz Truss is also at risk. 

Mr Hunt today said the Conservatives are not pretending that the party winning the General Election is 'the most likely outcome' and said his own political future is 'too close to call'.

Speaking at the Times CEO Summit, Mr Hunt also said he believed there had not been 'sustained economic scarring' from Liz Truss's mini-budget.

Despite having represented South West Surrey as MP since 2005, the Chancellor is facing significant pressure from the Liberal Democrats in the area's redrawn constituency of Godalming and Ash.

It comes as some who had their sights set on replacing Mr Sunak, should the Tories be defeated, have now seemingly bowed out of the race. 

James Cleverley is reportedly no longer planning to stand in the Tory leadership race following the anticipated election defeat, with allies claiming the home secretary lacked the desire to succeed the current PM. 

Meanwhile, Ms Braverman has had key allies predict she might not enter the race due to a lack of support after she was fired as home secretary in November last year. 

Allies have claimed if Ms Braverman did decide to run, it would be motivated largely by trying to secure a senior role in the shadow cabinet. 

One figure close to the former home secretary told The Times she had 'fallen by the wayside' following her regular public interventions, that colleagues saw less in the long-term interests of the party and more as an act of self-service by Ms Braverman.   

Other contenders to replace Mr Sunak include Kemi Badenoch, the business and trade secretary, former home secretary Priti Patel and Tom Tugendhat, the security minister.  

Yesterday's Savanta poll suggested the Conservatives would be reduced to just 53 seats and Mr Sunak himself would lose his Richmond & Northallerton constituency.

Their study projected an enormous 382-seat majority for Labour, with Sir Keir Starmer's party winning a staggering 516 constituencies on July 4.

In a sign of the difficulty in making such projections, Reform was not seen as securing any seats in the Savanta MRP.

The third MRP published last night, conducted by More In Common, found the Tories could end up with just 155 seats after July 4, with Sir Keir coasting into No10 with 406 Labour MPs.

The Lib Dems could emerge victorious in 49 constituencies, according to the research by More In Common for the News Agents podcast.

Their MRP also found Reform would not get a single seat.

That is despite a separate Survation poll released this afternoon suggesting Mr Farage will record a stunning win in Clacton.

Luke Tryl, executive director of More in Common UK, said: 'The fact that this projection showing the Conservatives barely holding 150 seats is one of the most favourable to the Conservatives shows how deep a hole the party finds itself in - with barely two weeks to go for them to change the dial.

'Far from the narrowing in the polls many expected to see by now the Conservatives position instead appears to be getting worse and only a small move away from them could see them reduced to 107 seats.

'Labour on the other hand look set to inherit a historic majority while still remaining largely undefined in the eyes of the electorate.'

According to the MRP study from YouGov, Labour are on course for the seond-largest majority since the Second World War.

It also suggested the Tories are headed for a result well below their previous low of 141 seats in 1906 under Arthur Balfour.

In Scotland, the YouGov research showed Labour winning 28 seats, with the SNP falling to just 20 seats and the Tories dropping to five constituencies.

It also found the Conservatives could be reduced to just one seat in Wales, where Labour were shown to be on course to win 26 out of 32 seats.

Sir Keir's party is poised take a record number of seats in London, with Labour set to win 63 out of 75 constituencies in the capital, according to the study.

Earlier, Mr Sunak seized on inflation finally falling back to the Bank of England's target as he tries to revive his election fortunes.

However, ministers have been increasingly open about their fears about the party's prospects, with both Mel Stride and Welsh Secretary David TC Davies conceding yesterday that Labour is almost certain to triumph.

Panicking Tories have been urging Mr Sunak to attack Mr Farage head-on, rather than trying to ignore the existential threat Reform poses.

The Brexit champion has admitted he cannot win this election, but insisted he wants to supplant the Tories as the real opposition - and is aiming to be PM by 2029.  

The latest official figures showed headline CPI dropping to 2 per cent in May, from 2.3 per cent in April, paving the way for interest rate cuts.

It marks the first time inflation has been at the BoE's goal since July 2021, before the cost-of-living crisis saw inflation shoot up – at one stage hitting levels not seen for 40 years.

Mr Sunak seized on the data to claim that inflation is 'back to normal' and Brits will 'start to feel the benefits'. But he warned that putting Labour in power could put 'progress at risk'.

The reductions will give Threadneedle Street pause for thought as it considers interest rates at the MPC meeting tomorrow. 

However, most economists believe rates will be held at 5.25, with the July 4 election regarded as hampering decisions.