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Sir Keir Starmer has said he thought his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn would have been a better PM than Boris Johnson as Rishi Sunak was met with cries of 'shame' in a tense TV leader's special.

It comes as the parties are set to resume campaigning as the General Election looms less than two weeks away.

While Keir Starmer heads to Scotland to campaign on the party's industrial policy, the Liberal Democrats are calling for urgent reform to end the 'appalling situation' in NHS dentistry.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who had complained he was not included in last night's Question Time special, will face a grilling from BBC Panorama later today. A similar special with co-leader of the Green Party Adrian Ramsay will be broadcast on Monday.

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Sunak stands by decision to call July general election

The Prime Minister told the BBC Question Time audience: "It was the right moment to call the election, for the reasons that I have outlined."

Asked if he was glad to have called the election, he added: "I am."

Starmer slams 'toxic' nature of the Trans debate

The Labour leader, who earlier this week said he agreed with Sir Tony Blair’s recent comment that a woman has a vagina and a man has a penis hit out at Rishi Sunak’s trans joke at PMQ's, allegedly linked to murdered transgender teenager Brianna Ghey.

Sir Keir said: "There are many people who don’t identify with the gender they are born into and they go through a lot of anxiety and distress.

"My view in life is to give dignity and respect to everyone, whatever their position. I was worried at the time in which the debate was being conducted, it got very toxic, very divided. We lost sight of people in that.

"The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom made a trans joke in Parliament when the mother of a murdered trans teenager was watching on. That is a shocking place to get to."

Sunak met with chants of 'shame' over ECHR stance

Audience members chanted "shame on you" when Rishi Sunak said he would prioritise the UK’s security over the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Prime Minister said he was "prepared to do what it takes" to begin sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, adding that the country does not need a "foreign court" to issue instructions on border security. "I will put our country first," he added.

As the credits for the special continued, further cries of "shame" could be heard coming from the audience.

Starmer admits he did not think Labour would win the 2019 General Election

Speaking at a BBC Question Time special, Sir Keir was grilled over his one-time statement Corbyn would make a great prime minister.

He said: "It wasn’t a question that really arose because I didn’t think we were going to win the election."

When host Fiona 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.

While Sir Keir said he did not think they would win the 2019 election, the former shadow Brexit secretary still thought Corbyn would make a better PM than Johnson. Corbyn, who is standing as an independent candidate in Islington North, was expelled from Labour in May.

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