Reflecting upon last night’s 7-party election debate, Hull City Councillor, Cllr Mike Ross analyses the repetitive and scripted nature of the participants’ responses, noting the lack of substantial new information. He also comments on the dynamic between party representatives and the implications for the remaining weeks of the election campaign.
Councillor Mike Ross
Hull City CouncillorWell, how was that for you? Learn anything new? Were you expecting to?
Of course not, don’t be silly. This was the political equivalent of painting by numbers. Participants offering up their tried and (heavily tested) lines in response to the questions. Sometimes with these debates you almost don’t need the question – you know what the answer is going to be. “Labour will put up your taxes” says Penny. “The problem is immigration” offers Nigel.
If you didn’t tune in, you are forgiven. The proceedings started with a reminder there are three, yes, three more weeks of this election to go. The questions ranged from the NHS, the state of the education system and immigration. There was then the bonus of the panellists asking each other questions. ITV were getting their money’s worth out of the set, as the one from their first debate made a reappearance for this outing. Sadly, so did the same short responses, so if you didn’t really feel you heard a useful answer, you are not alone. Just as they get going, it is time for them to finish.
Short answers can be good, but they too often boiled down to ‘our party good, your party bad.” Could Tarzan have been coaching them in how to answer the question? If it wasn’t short answers, then there was also the shouting over each other. I felt for Daisy, stuck in the middle of Angela and Penny as they tried to take metaphorical lumps out of each other.
Calling this a debate is perhaps stretching the term slightly. Scripted answers (yes, that includes you Nigel) and the occasional barb at each other is not exactly going to lead to some of those memorable moments seen in debates of old. But then, this has been an election where there haven’t been very many surprises coming forward from the parties. Stage managed and polished (Ed Davey’s enjoyable stunts aside). Why would the debate be any different?
If you are watching these debates to help you decide who you should vote for, look away now. These will do little to educate or entertain you. In fact, potentially the most entertaining moment was when Julie Etchingham dropped her cards and had to pick them up. These shows have their place, but let’s not pretend they offer anything new, as all the parties have added them to the long list of campaign components they learn how to manage – and they mostly do it well. Very well.
It is, though, fair to include more than just the Conservative and Labour parties. Votes are going to a whole range of other parties in this election, so it is right to hear from them now. Nigel was jumping with glee to let everyone know about the good news for Reform in the latest opinion poll.
There was one clear message from those other parties. Labour is heading for a big win – give us your backing to hold them to account. At times it felt like Angela Rayner for Labour was under more scrutiny than the representative of the governing party, Penny Mordaunt. Three weeks from today we will know if their predictions are right. Hold on everyone, it really isn’t that long to go.
Final Thought
The upcoming debates include a ‘Question Time Leaders’ Special’ on the 20th June, a ‘Head-to-Head’ debate on the 26th June, and a final ‘Northern Ireland Leaders Debate’ on the 27th June.
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