During the last quarter of 2024, Netflix pulled a larger audience in the UK than BBC One, becoming the country’s most popular TV service. Across its entire portfolio, the BBC remains the UK’s favourite news and entertainment destination, but this is nonetheless a significant milestone for a US-based streamer. After all, Netflix was a service that sent DVDs through the post in California a couple of decades ago.

I have researched TV in the streaming era and the issue for national broadcasters is that streaming is a global industry. That is to say, content produced locally benefits operations globally – subscribers in country A benefit from content produced primarily for viewers in country B. As such, there are mutual gains from subscriber growth in either territory, since that provides an incentive for a platform to increase content in either location.

And as Netflix grows, so too does its value to viewers. This model constitutes a considerable competitive advantage for it and other platforms that stream content across borders.

Without Hollywood films and TV series, Netflix would be a fringe player in the US market, but this content also appeals to subscribers around the world. The same applies to Korean programmes, which serve a demanding local audience and have also proved popular worldwide. In mid-January, Netflix’s most viewed shows in the UK were a mix of US and Korean programmes, including the second season of Squid Game.

Netflix is savvy at making content circulate across continents, using its huge library to its advantage. Its scale gives it an unassailable edge over local rivals.

This strategy is centred on content portability and was explained by Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, who said: “We’re not trying to make more Hollywood content for the world, we’re trying to make content from anywhere in the world to the rest of the world.”

In fact, Netflix has both Hollywood and non English-language content. But in any event, the platform never competes on a level playing field with local services and whenever it enters a market it does so with the benefit of a library built for other territories.

Netflix and the other streaming giants are reshaping media systems across Europe. An audience survey in four European countries (Denmark, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands) of 1,813 respondents aged between 16 and 34 revealed that Netflix was by far the most popular destination for long-form content such as films. The survey also confirmed that Netflix, alongside Amazon Prime Video and Disney+, were the most watched streaming services in these four countries.

THE STRUGGLE FOR BROADCASTERS

As a result of this renewed competition, Europe’s commercial broadcasters are struggling for advertisers, viewers and investors. My calculations show that at the end of 2024, the collective market capitalisation of Europe’s largest commercial broadcasters in the region’s five biggest markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK), plus the Nordic countries, was just 5.6% that of Netflix (US$14.2 billion (£11.5 billion) versus US$252.5 billion).

Navigating this global system is equally challenging for public service media like the BBC. They too are losing audiences, particularly young viewers, to streaming services. Historically, the EU and the UK have been good at protecting their film and TV production sectors.

An EU directive, for example, stipulates that streaming services must “secure at least a 30% share of European works in their catalogues” and ensure that content is prominently available. In the future, the EU and UK may have need to strengthen their support for public service media as well.

Netflix has invested billions in UK-produced content, including Black Doves starring Keira Knightley. Ludovic Robert/Netflix

But Netflix is fond of European content anyway, and is investing billions of dollars in the region. For the first time in 2024, the service was spending more on international content than US programming (US$7.9 billion versus US$7.5 billion). And, in the UK alone, Netflix has invested more than US$6 billion since 2020.

While on the face of it this investment is a coup for domestic creative industries, the issue is that it remains a US-based service that decides which stories are told, and how. Netflix is interested in indigenous content, but during the production process its commissioners shape these stories with a transnational audience in mind.

As such, the local stories that Netflix selects in the UK and elsewhere are not necessarily those that a public service broadcaster would choose to tell. What’s more, the UK has no control over the ownership of these platforms and, depending on whose hands they fall into, this may prove an issue in the future.

Public service media, including the BBC, are instruments of national self-representation, which reflect a country’s idiosyncrasies, its mood and its strengths and weaknesses better than any other platform. It is an ability and a privilege the UK must retain.

(Author: Jean Chalaby, Professor of Sociology, City St George’s, University of London)

(Disclosure Statement: Jean Chalaby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment)

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

London:

The father and stepmother of Sara Sharif, a 10-year-old girl who was found dead in her home in Britain, were on Wednesday convicted of her murder after a trial which heard harrowing details of her treatment before her killing.

Sara Sharif was found dead in August 2023 at her home in Woking, a town southwest of London, after what prosecutors say was a campaign of “serious and repeated violence”.

The family fled to Pakistan immediately after Sara Sharif was killed, before they were arrested in September 2023 at London’s Gatwick airport after flying from Dubai.

Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones told jurors at the start of the trial that Sara had suffered a litany of injuries, including burns, broken bones and bite marks.

Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 43, and his wife Beinash Batool, 30, stood trial at London’s Old Bailey court charged with her murder, which they denied.

The jury convicted Urfan Sharif and Batool of Sara’s murder. Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik, 29, was found not guilty of murder but guilty of causing or allowing Sara’s death.

Sharif and Batool will be sentenced on Dec. 17.

Emlyn Jones told jurors at the start of the trial that Urfan Sharif had called police and said: “It wasn’t my intention to kill her, but I beat her up too much.”

Sharif gave evidence and initially denied responsibility for Sara’s death. He accepted slapping Sara to discipline her, but denied beating her in a regular or sustained way.

But Urfan Sharif, under questioning from Batool’s lawyer Caroline Carberry, later said he took “full responsibility” for his daughter’s death.

Lawyers for Batool, who did not give evidence, said Urfan Sharif was violent and controlling and that she was scared of him.
 

London:

Tens of thousands of homes across the UK were left without power on Saturday and two people were killed after Storm Darragh hit the country with strong winds and caused pre-Christmas travel disruption.

Darragh, the fourth named storm of the season, is also expected to bring heavy rain through the weekend, with the UK’s Environment Agency issuing dozens of flood warnings.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told Sky News on Saturday the storm posed a “challenging situation”.

Two men were killed as a result of trees falling on their cars in separate incidents in Lancashire, northwest England, and in the west Midlands.

In Wales, the Met Office estimated gusts of up to 150 kilometres per hour (93 miles per hour), with a “major incident” declared in parts of Wales due to the extensive disruption.

The storm has had “very significant effects in many parts of Wales, including on transport, energy infrastructure and property”, the Welsh devolved leader said in a statement, warning that the effects could be “felt for some days yet”.

As of Saturday afternoon 177,000 homes in England, Scotland and Wales were without power, according to the Energy Networks Association.

Trains were disrupted or suspended on several routes including from Glasgow to Edinburgh in Scotland, and between Cambridge and Stansted Airport in eastern England.  

Rail operator CrossCountry, which operates nationwide, put a “do not travel” notice in place for Saturday due to cancellations and severe delays. 

Network Rail Wales suspended trains on the Welsh northern coast due to a “fallen tree blocking the line”, and several bridges in southern England and Wales were closed for safety reasons.

In Northern Ireland, thousands were left without power, and several bus and train services were suspended or delayed.

Christmas markets and sporting events were postponed, including the Merseyside derby between Premier League leaders Liverpool and Everton.

In Ireland, which issued an “orange” wind warning, 175,000 homes were without electricity as of Saturday evening, according to ESB Networks, which said there was “widespread and extensive damage to electricity infrastructure”.

Dublin Airport said “a number of flights scheduled for Saturday morning have been cancelled by airlines” due to the storm.

Darragh comes two weeks after Storm Bert battered much of Britain, causing “devastating” flooding in parts of Wales and knocking out power to thousands of homes in Ireland.

The UK’s Met Office had issued a rare red alert for high winds overnight to Saturday morning (0300 to 1100 GMT) covering parts of Wales and southwest England.

A separate amber warning, which is less serious than the red alert but still flags a “potential risk to life and property”, covering a larger stretch of the UK and Northern Ireland is in place until Saturday night.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

London:

A 33-year-old Indian-origin woman, who had earlier admitted to killing her 10-year-old daughter, was on Friday sentenced to an indefinite hospital order over her mental health concerns.

Jaskirat Kaur, also known as Jasmine Kang, was on March 4 charged with the murder of Shay Kang, who was found dead at their home in a town in the West Midlands region of England.

West Midlands Police said the girl had been found with injuries at an address in the town of Rowley Regis and pronounced dead at the scene.

Jaskirat Kaur denied murder and went on to plead guilty to her daughter’s manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

She has now been sentenced to a hospital order in a secure facility for an indefinite period after reports related to her mental health were submitted in court.

“This is a harrowing case for everyone involved. Jaskirat Kaur suffered a mental health episode at the time of the attack which led to her daughter’s death,” Detective Inspector Dan Jarratt from the West Midlands Police Homicide department said in a statement.

“Shay was a young girl with her whole life ahead of her. She has been described as a bright and happy child. Her death has had a profound impact on those who knew her as well as the wider community and our thoughts remain with everyone who loved her,” he said.

Kang was found dead at the home she shared with her mother on Robin Close after Kaur called emergency services to report the death. Officers arrived at the scene on March 4 and arrested the mother, who admitted to stabbing Shay the previous night. Following a forensic post-mortem, it was found Shay was stabbed multiple times to the chest.

Brickhouse Primary School, where Shay was a pupil, issued a statement at the time to say the school was deeply saddened by the tragic death.

“Shay was a bright, happy, fun-loving child who was well liked by all, and she will be very sadly missed by everyone,” read the statement.

Tributes including toys, cards and balloons poured in and some parents of children who attended the same school had set up an online Go Fund Me fundraiser to collect money for Shay’s funeral.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Sperm donated in the UK is being exported to other countries and can be used to create large numbers of children across the world, violating a strict 10-family limit that applies in the UK, experts warned. According to The Guardian, while a single donor can be used to create no more than 10 families in UK fertility clinics, there are no restrictions on sperm or eggs from the country being sent abroad. This legal loophole is being exploited in what appears to be an industrial-level practice. It also raises the prospect of some donor-conceived children navigating relationships with dozens of biological half-siblings across Europe and beyond. 

Amidst this, experts are calling on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to tighten restrictions. “If you believe that it’s necessary to enforce the 10-family limit in the modern world then logically that should apply wherever the sperm are from,” said Prof Jackson Kirkman-Brown, chair of the Association for Reproductive and Clinical Scientists (ARCS), per The Guardian. “There is data showing that some of the children who find the really big families struggle with that,” he added. 

Separately, speaking to the outlet, Prof Lucy Frith, of the University of Manchester, who is researching donor-conceived experiences, said that making contact with biological half-siblings is often viewed positively. However, she added that “when numbers of siblings began to grow [it] felt unmanageable to have contact and relationships with a growing and indeterminate number of people.” 

“There are no hard and fast figures of when the number becomes ‘too much’ and this depends on individuals, but generally over 10 was felt to be a large group,” she said. 

“Once you’ve frozen sperm it doesn’t get any older,” said Mr Kirkman-Brown. This means that a donor sperm could continue to be used for years or decades. “You can end up with donor siblings older than your parents, which is not somewhere we’ve been yet,” he added.

Donations are “presented to donors as a beautiful gift to help someone create a family, not as, ‘We’re going to maximise the number of births from your gametes and make as much money as we can from that,'” said Prof Nicky Hudson, a medical sociologist at De Montford University. 

The rule for enforcing the 10-family limit across licensed clinics is controlled by HEFA. According to the regulatory body, 10 is the number people feel comfortable with in terms of the number of potential donor-conceived children, half-siblings and families that might be created. 

“As the HFEA has no remit over donation outside of HFEA licensed clinics, there would be no monitoring of how many times a donor is used in these circumstances,” said Rachel Cutting, director of compliance and information at the HFEA.

Also Read | Humans Experience Fastest Aging At These Two Ages, Reveals Study

Experts are now asking HEFA to crack down. “The HFEA is limited by its statutory duties, but it could stipulate that it will only import gametes that meet the UK limit (10 families), outside the UK,” said Lucy Frith. 

“The HFEA’s position that this is outside its remit is not good enough,” said Sarah Norcross, director of the fertility charity Progress Educational Trust. “I’m not against there being more than 10 families if some are outside the UK, but 75, which some of these banks have alighted on, is a heck of a lot of relatives. Even if they say we can’t control the number of families abroad, they could insist that the number is made available to the recipient,” she added. 

Notably, according to The Guardian, the United Kingdom was an importer of sperm till five years ago, mainly from the US and Denmark. But between 2019 and 2021, the UK exported 7,542 straws of sperm. Additionally, the world’s largest sperm and egg bank Cryos opened a unit in Manchester this April.

“The European Sperm Bank, which accounted for 90% of exports, applies a worldwide limit of 75 families a donor and estimates that its donors help on average 25 families,” the report said. 

“The idea of a dad to loads of children already exists in our cultural imagination. We don’t have that for women,” noted Prof Nicky Hudson, adding that it’s not an idea encouraged by women. One of them told her it “felt like human trafficking”. 

Southport:

A knife attack in northern England on Monday wounded at least eight people, reportedly including children, emergency services said.

Police said armed officers detained a man and seized a knife after being called to a property in Southport, near Liverpool in northwest England.

“There are a number of reported casualties,” police said in a statement.

The North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) said it had “treated eight patients with stab injuries who have been taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Aintree University Hospital and Southport and Formby hospital.”

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital said: “We can confirm that the trust has declared a major incident.”

Local business owner Colin Parry, one of the people who called police, told the domestic Press Association news agency that he believed several “young girls” had been stabbed.

Bare Varathan, who owns a local shop, told PA he saw “seven to 10 kids” who were “injured, bleeding”, adding that he saw they had been stabbed.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the incident “horrendous and deeply shocking,” adding on X, formerly called Twitter, that “my thoughts are with all those affected”.

The area where the incident took place is located in a quiet, leafy neighbourhood of residential streets.

Some residents who were allowed to come out from the police cordon sealing it off looked visibly shocked, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

One man who lives in an adjoining street and did not wish to be named told AFP: “It’s not what you expect to see in Southport.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

London:

The UK government on Wednesday announced plans to axe 92 House of Lords seats retained for hereditary lawmakers, resurrecting reform of the unelected chamber started under Tony Blair’s Labour government in the 1990s.

King Charles III, opening the first parliamentary session after Keir Starmer’s general election win for Labour, said removing the peers’ right to sit and vote in the Lords was part of “measures to modernise” Britain’s uncodified constitution.

Labour won the July 4 election by a landslide, returning it to power for the first time since 2010, allowing it to put its manifesto pledges into law, including the much-touted Lords reforms.

Parliament’s unelected upper chamber has long been subject to demands for reform to make it more representative and less “a chamber festering with grotesques and has-beens”, as one newspaper columnist famously described it in 2022.

But the extent of Labour’s plans remain unclear.

The scrapping of the hereditary peers — the hundreds of members of the aristocracy whose titles are inherited — has been described as a “first step in wider reform”.

“The continued presence of hereditary peers in the House of Lords is outdated and indefensible,” the government said in briefing notes accompanying the King’s Speech.

Removing hereditary seats

Comprising around 800 lawmakers, the House of Lords is comfortably larger than any other equivalent in a democracy.

Its members, whose current average age is 71, are mostly appointed for life.

They include former MPs, typically appointed by departing prime ministers, along with people nominated after serving in prominent public- or private-sector roles, and Church of England clerics.

The primary role of the centuries-old chamber is to scrutinise the government.

It cannot override legislation sent from the popularly elected House of Commons, but it can amend and delay bills and initiate new draft laws.

That job occasionally propels the Lords into the political spotlight, such as during its recent delays to the previous Conservative government’s contentious Rwanda deportation plan — quickly scrapped by the new government.

Like the Commons, the Lords has specialised scrutiny committees.

The new government’s planned legislation revisits the House of Lords reform agenda that Blair’s Labour government initiated in the late 1990s.

His government had intended to abolish all the seats held by hundreds of hereditary members who sat in the chamber at that time.

But it ended up retaining 92 in what was supposed to be a temporary compromise.

“25 years later, they form part of the status quo more by accident than by design,” said the briefing from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government.

“No other modern comparable democracies allow individuals to sit and vote in their legislature by right of birth,” it added.

“Holding membership of a seat within a Parliament on a hereditary basis is incredibly rare.”

‘Overdue and essential’

The government said the reforms were in part motivated by the gender imbalance of hereditary peers — currently all male, because most peerages can only be passed down the male line.

The rest of the House of Lords fares better, with 242 of other members — 36 percent — female.

Starmer’s new administration also argues that hereditary peers are too politically “static” for a democracy.

Of the 92 seats allotted for them under the 1999 reforms, 42 are for Conservatives, 28 for so-called crossbenchers, three for the Liberal Democrats and just two for Labour.

Meanwhile 15 are elected by the entire chamber from the hundreds of hereditary peers that exist in the UK.

Reformers also argue that hereditary peers do not face propriety checks, compared to life peers who are subject to a vetting procedure from the House of Lords Appointment Committee.

“In the 21st century, there should not be almost 100 places reserved for individuals who were born into certain families, nor should there be seats effectively reserved only for men,” the government argued

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

London:

Britain’s new Labour government set out its first package of proposed laws on Wednesday as Prime Minister Keir Starmer tries to deliver on his promise to rebuild the country.

The King’s Speech – given by the monarch but written by government ministers – opens the new session of parliament.

Below are some of the government’s key policy plans:

PLANNING REFORM

A Planning and Infrastructure Bill will seek to increase the number of homes built each year and simplify the process for approving key infrastructure projects by speeding up the time it takes to get planning permission.

The government signalled the planning bill would restrict the ability of local people to block new developments saying there would be “democratic engagement with how, not if, homes and infrastructure are built”.

WORKERS’ RIGHTS

An Employment Rights Bill will ban companies imposing zero-hour contracts, outlaw fire and rehire tactics and strengthen workers’ rights by providing parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal to all workers.

The bill will also make it unlawful to sack a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return to work, except in specific circumstances, and make flexible working the default when people start jobs.

ECONOMIC SAFEGUARDS

A Budget Responsibility Bill will guarantee that any government making significant tax and spending changes would be subject to an independent forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility, the official budget watchdog.

This is intended to avoid a repeat of former prime minister Liz Truss’s 2022 mini-budget, a $50-billion package of unfunded tax cuts which was delivered without an independent assessment, triggering a meltdown in financial markets.

ILLEGAL MIGRATION

The government wants to pass a new border security bill that will give law enforcement agencies counter-terrorism powers to target the gangs who bring tens of thousands of people to Britain in small boats every year.

This will include stop and search powers for border officers and stronger penalties for advertising people smuggling. Labour scrapped the previous Conservative government’s plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda.

HOUSING REFORM

Renters will be able to challenge unreasonable rent increases. The Renters’ Rights Bill will abolish no fault evictions, end “rental bidding wars”, and make it illegal for landlords to discriminate against families with children or those receiving benefits.

FINANCIAL REGULATIONS

The government’s new financial bills will seek to encourage consolidation of smaller pension schemes, improve the process for rescuing failed banks by expanding the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, and give new powers to a new auditing regulator.

CLIMATE AND ENERGY

The government will pass legislation to set up the centrepiece of its green energy plans, GB Energy, backed by 8.3 billion pounds ($11 billion), to co-invest in leading technologies and help support capital-intensive projects.

RAILWAYS

It will bring rail franchises back under government control when private contracts expire. It will seek to boost east to west connectivity in northern England but will not relaunch a high-speed railway between Birmingham and Manchester.

CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS

As part of plans to reform parliament’s upper chamber, the House of Lords, it will remove the right of hereditary peers – passed down through family lines indefinitely and without election – to sit and vote. There are 92 hereditary peers out of more than 800 members.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

The new crime and policing bill will introduce a ban on so-called “ninja swords”, seek to crack down on shoplifting and target people involved in harassment and drinking alcohol in public.

CYBER SECURITY

A Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will update Britain’s regulation in a similar manner to the EU’s proposed Cyber Resilience Act, forcing companies to report incidents including ransomware incidents to give more data on cyber attacks.

DEVOLUTION

An English Devolution Bill will give mayors and other local leaders more say over economic decisions including on transport and jobs.

Power in Britain is centralised compared to other large economies with many funding decisions made in London. The government says further devolution will help boost productivity and bring about more balanced economic growth.

CONVERSION THERAPY

It plans to ban so-called conversion therapy, which targets lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people with the aim to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.

It said any ban must not cover legitimate psychological support to people exploring their sexual orientation or gender identity. The previous Conservative government had sought to introduce similar legislation.

SMOKING

The government plans to gradually phase out the sale of cigarettes as first announced by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Children born on or after Jan. 1, 2009 will never be able to legally buy cigarettes under a planned bill.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Labour plans to end some tax breaks given to fee-paying schools and to use that money to raise standards in government-run schools.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A woman from the United Kingdom pleaded guilty to murdering her parents and living in their home for several years after, as per a report in the Independent. Virginia McCullough, 36, entered a guilty plea to the murders of Lois McCullough, aged 71, and John McCullough, aged 70, between June 17 and June 20, 2019, during her appearance via prison video call at Chelmsford Crown Court on Thursday. She hid their bodies inside the house and kept residing at that location.

The woman lied to the doctors and relatives that her parents were unwell, on holiday or on vacation to cover her tracks. Her actions came to light on September 15, 2023, when Essex police executed a warrant at the Pump Hill residence after her parents’ doctors expressed concerns about missing visits. At that point, the 36-year-old admitted to stabbing her mother and poisoning her father with prescription drugs, according to the cops.

McCullough confirmed her identity, entered guilty pleas to both counts and stated that she understood the judge’s remarks. She will be sentenced on October 10 and 11.

As per the outlet, Judge Christopher Morgan said, “You will understand that there is a single sentence that can be passed upon you in these circumstances. Consideration however has to be given to the minimum term.”

Meanwhile, people living around the neighbourhood described the woman as “quite chatty” and a “little bit odd”, according to The Guardian. Dave Oldershaw, a neighbour, said McCullough was “carrying on, going up to the Chinese (takeaway) like nothing has happened”. He “thought she lived on her own” at the house and stated that he “only knew her to say hello to – she wasn’t trouble.”

A worker at a nearby shop said the woman had told him her parents had moved to be by the seaside. He said he had not seen them since the Covid-19 pandemic but would previously “see them two or three times per week”.

According to the employee, McCullough appeared “a little bit odd sometimes.” “She would come in and go ‘do you want a coffee’ then five minutes later, there would be a coffee sitting there,” the worker continued.

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer take part in the BBC’s Prime Ministerial Debate, in Nottingham, England, on June 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

In a final and noisy pre-election debate on Wednesday night, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and opposition Labour Party Leader, Keir Starmer, argued loudly with each other on the cost of living, taxes and welfare, immigration and gender.

The Prime Minister, in danger of losing his Richmond (Yorkshire) seat, repeatedly warned voters over the 75-minute debate not to “surrender” to Labour on various fronts.

Mr. Sunak’s Conservative Party has been in power for 14 years, and has lagged behind Labour in opinion polls by around 20 points. Following the pandemic, Britons have seen four conservative Prime Ministers, crumbling public services (such as the National Health Service) and a cost of living crisis.

ALSO READ | Snap poll: On the surprise election announcement for the U.K.

The U.K.’s tax burden had hit record levels under the Sunak government. The independent Institute of Fiscal Studies warned earlier in the week that neither party was being upfront about the trade-offs that would have to be made between taxes and public services, which are already in disarray.

Mr. Sunak spoke over his opponent at length during the tax segment, accusing Mr. Starmer of planning a tax on pensions. “It is in their DNA. Mark my words. Your pension, your council tax your home, your car, you name it, they will tax it,” Mr. Sunak said.

On immigration, Mr. Starmer attacked the Prime Minister for the impracticality of the government’s plan to deport migrants with failed asylum claims to Rwanda. Mr Sunak argued that opposition leader did not have a plan and that it would be infeasible to return undocumented migrants to countries like Iran and Afghanistan.

The debate also went into some of Britain’s culture wars. The candidates were asked if they would protect women-only spaces. They both agreed on the equivalence of “sex” and “biological sex” but differed on the legal instruments required to achieve women-only spaces. Mr. Starmer accused the Tories of splitting people on a number of issues , as he cautioned people against transphobia.

Both candidates attempted to sidestep questions on mending Britain’s trading relationship with the European Union (EU). Pressed on the issue, Mr. Starmer said he would get a better deal with the EU including in research and development, as he pushed back against Mr. Sunak’s accusation that a better deal came with the free movement of EU citizens across the U.K. border.

Although Mr. Sunak trails Mr. Starmer in polls, Mr. Starmer also has low popularity.

During Wednesday’s debate, both candidates accused the other of making empty promises.

“Are you two really the best we’ve got to be the next prime minister of our great country?” a senior citizen in the audience, Robert Blackstock, asked.

“I get the frustrations, but think about the choice, allow me to finish the job I’ve started,” Mr. Sunak said as he suggested he would protect pensions from tax, “secure” borders, and have lower taxes that Labour.

“People feel like hope’s been beaten out of them,” Mr. Starmer said, arguing that Britons felt worse off now than they were 14 years ago when the Conservatives came to power.

He talked about his “working class” background and bringing a sense of service to politics.

Following the debate, Mr. Blackstock said he was disappointed with the answers both candidates had provided.

“From my perspective, we want a personality. We want somebody that we can recognise. We want somebody on the world stage, that is going to project our Great Britain. That’s what we want,” he said.