Keir Starmer accused Rishi Sunak of being ¡°out of touch¡± with voters as the Labour leader promised to fix Britain¡¯s stagnant economy and ailing public services, and the prime minister used the final televised debate to attack his poll-leading rival on taxes ahead of next week¡¯s election.

In what was likely to be the last set-piece moment for Sunak to try to prevent a resounding Labour victory on July 4, a snap poll showed the two leaders were tied in the at-times spiky debate in Nottingham.

That will suit Starmer, whose goal between now and election day is to avoid any unforced errors.

The head-to-head contest came amid a betting scandal that¡¯s dominated the last two weeks of the campaign, after Conservative candidates and officials were accused of using inside knowledge to make bets on the date of the election before Sunak announced it.

Polls show the revelations have cut through with the public and appear to have killed off any remaining hopes of a Tory recovery.

Starmer, who also suspended a Labour candidate who had bet on himself to lose, promised to ¡°reset¡± politics and restore a sense of public service to high office.

¡°You have to lead from the front on issues like this,¡± he said. ¡°I think that in the last 14 years, politics has become too much about self-entitlement and MPs thinking about what they could get for themselves.¡±

It was a reference to the Tory record in government, and Labour¡¯s poll lead is built around tapping into voters¡¯ desire for change.

Starmer cited the rule-breaking parties in Downing Street during the pandemic when Boris Johnson was prime minister, and the 49-day, market-roiling premiership of Liz Truss.

The Labour appeared more ready to counter Sunak than during the first TV debate at the start of the campaign, when even his own side was frustrated that he took too long to rebut Sunak¡¯s lines on taxes.

After the premier interrupted the Labour leader on Wednesday, Starmer hit back.

¡°If you listened to more people in the audience and across the country more often, you might not be so out of touch,¡± he said, drawing applause from the studio audience.

But with a week left to save his job, Sunak was also combative.

He repeatedly urged people not to ¡°surrender¡± to Labour on tax and borders, in what appeared to be a planned effort to win back Conservative voters, who polls show are deserting the party.

As the campaign has worn on, the Tory messaging has switched to warnings about what Labour would do with a large majority.

That will also be viewed as a further attempt by the Tory campaign to shore up its...