Thanasis Gavos, London

Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer was named the winner of Britain’s second televised prime ministerial battle by 64% of Sky News viewers on Wednesday night.

Rishi Sunak of the Conservatives outperformed his opponent on the remaining 36%.

The second debate between the two politicians took place without a debate between them, but with each separately answering questions from Sky News political editor Beth Rigby and members of the audience in the town of Grimsby.

56% of respondents found Mr Starmer more trustworthy and more likeable, with the Tory leader gaining 28% and 29% respectively in the same questions.

Asked which of the two seemed closer to the people’s problems, Keir Starmer won with 71% to Mr Sunak’s 13%.

And on the question of who had more prime ministerial airs, the Labor leader won again by 50% to 35%.

Sir Kier also won the public’s favor on questions of who was better on health, youth and the economy, although on taxation he narrowly won 42% to 41%.

During the evening, outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak admitted that he had not fully achieved the goals he had set as priorities when he took office, namely on issues such as immigration, public health and the economy, although he stressed that progress had been made on two rare crises, the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

For his part, Mr Starmer appeared embarrassed when an audience member called him a “political robot” who can’t seem to convince voters.

On the contentious issue of taxation, which has become the focus of the pre-election tussle, Sir Keir dismissed Sunak’s warnings of massive tax rises by a Labor government. “There are no plans to raise taxes in our manifesto for working people,” said Mr Starmer, who is launching Labour’s election manifesto on Thursday morning.

When asked what his biggest fear is if he takes power he said it is not the difficult decisions but the effect it will have on his teenage children.