‘You should be surging!’ Sophie Raworth’s feisty slap down of ‘rude’ Ed Miliband – WATCH

Ed Miliband grilled by Sophie Raworth on Labour polling

BBC’s Sunday Morning host Sophie Raworth took Ed Miliband to task this morning as she argued that the Labour Party should be “surging ahead in the polls”. Ms Raworth said Boris Johnson’s partygate scandal coupled with the devastating cost of living crisis should see Labour poll significantly ahead of the Conservatives – and not “only five points ahead”. The Labour MP struggled to defend his party’s standing among the voters as he became visibly irritated and frustrated on-air.

Mr Miliband said: “We have changed from 2019, we have listened to the voters.

“Our job is to deliver change, and that is the next phase of Keir’s leadership, which we are doing with the windfall tax, and the climate investment pledge. He is making huge progress.”

Ms Raworth hit back: “But, you are still only five points ahead. Shouldn’t you be surging ahead in the polls?

“You have Boris Johnson who has been fined for breaking his own Covid rules.”

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BBC’s Sunday Morning host Sophie Raworth took Ed Miliband to task this morning (Image: BBC)

Sophie Raworth argued that Labour should be significantly ahead of the Tories – not just five points (Image: BBC)

The BBC host continued: “You have more than 100 fines in Downing Street and Whitehall.

“You have energy bills and fuel going up. Why is that not translating to the polls?”

Mr Miliband responded: “From being leader, I learned that you don’t look at the polls, but look at the real results.

“And those real results show progress. Keir is not only someone of decency and integrity, Keir has his eyes on the prize.

“He knew, when he took over, that he had a mountain to climb and we are climbing the mountain.”

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Ed Miliband cited Labour’s campaign to end the non-dom loophole and the rise in national insurance (Image: BBC)

Mr Miliband cited Labour’s campaign to end the non-dom loophole and the rise in national insurance as signs that Labour was aligned with the British public.

He added: “What we have in this country is a social emergency when there are seven million people skipping meals.”

Viewers criticised Mr Miliband’s tone and approach to the interview, with one Twitter user Degsy reacting: “Ed Miliband, I watched your interview on the BBC this morning.

“I thought 1. How rude you were to Sophie throughout. 2. Will you give apologies?

“How is it, that politicians & former politicians manage to PARROT the same answer to different questions to avoid giving the right one.”

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Viewers criticised Mr Miliband’s tone and approach to the interview (Image: BBC)

Chris added: “Ed Miliband, why does he think shouting makes his point real – what a useless tool.”

Overnight polling data from Opinium Research for Progressive Britain suggested that Labour could win over Conservative voters by sticking to the cost of living in its messaging.

Chris Curtis, head of political polling at Opinium, said: “Labour’s lead in last week’s local elections would have been good enough to put Keir Starmer into Downing Street.

“However, our report makes it clear that the Conservative voters that Labour needs to win over will only make the shift in a general election if they are convinced Labour can competently run the economy.”