They faced a live audience (Picture: Channel 4)

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn faced a live studio audience ahead of the general election.

‘The Battle For Number 10,’ screened on Sky News and Channel 4, fell short of a head-to-head debate between the main party leaders after the prime minister said she would not take part.

The format called for each candidate to separately face questions from the audience and then be interviewed by Jeremy Paxman.

Jeremy Corbyn

Terrorism

The Labour leader took the stage first, with the audience asking him two questions about terrorism in quick succession.

He was asked about his comments following the Manchester bombing suggesting UK foreign policy has put the country at risk.

Mr Corbyn said that leaving countries without effective governance, such as Libya where the Cameron government intervened, created ‘dangerous’ places for terrorists to operate.

The IRA

He was then accused of ‘openly supporting the IRA’ by attending a commemoration for eight members killed by the SAS in Loughgall.

Mr Corbyn said there was a period of silence for ‘everyone who died in Northern Ireland’ at the 1987 event.

‘It’s only by dialogue and process we brought about peace in Northern Ireland and I think that’s a good thing.’

Immigration

He said he would not ‘stand here and put a figure’ on immigration as the prime minister had done.

But said he would not allow whole groups to move to the UK and ‘undercut’ communities as they had done in the past.

Under his government, immigration would ‘probably’ be lower than the current net 248,000 but he refused to give a guarantee.

He said he would introduce an impact fund for communities affected by large new demographics.

We ‘require migrant workers’ to sustain industries such as healthcare, he said, and that should be recognised.

Leaving the EU

He defended himself against a question asking why the 48% who voted to stay in the EU should vote for Labour instead of the Lib Dems.

But he said people had to respect the result of the referendum.

Nuclear disarmament

He said he would renew Trident as he ‘accepted the democracy’ of his party. ‘It’s there in our manifesto because our conference voted for it – I have to accept that.’

Asked if he would be prepared to use the nuclear deterrent, he said he wants to live in a world free of the threat of a ‘nuclear holocaust’ – ‘any nuclear weapon used anywhere in the world is a disaster’.

Weapons such as this will not be effective against some of the major threats we face include terrorism and cyber warfare, he said.

But he said he would send letters of last resort to the four Trident commanders, authorising them to use nuclear force if they could not reach the UK government following a strike.

Theresa May

(Picture: Channel 4)

The Tory leader faced a very different tone of questioning to her Labour counterpart.

Both were asked about Brexit and the economy, however Jeremy Corbyn was asked more questions about national security and terrorism, and fewer about polices directly towards older voters.

By contrast, May was asked to justify austerity policies and asked about the ‘dementia tax’ and winter fuel allowance.

Police cuts

The prime minister was accused of putting the country in danger with cuts to the police budget.

But the prime minister said we shouldn’t focus on the ‘number’ of police.

‘Crime in changing’ she said twice, saying today’s world means there will be an increased focus on cyber crime.

She said there was an ‘uplift’ in armed police in response to the terror threat.

‘Dementia Tax’

The PM was quizzed on her plan to make pensioners use assets from their homes to pay for social care.

A questioner said he and his wife had worked hard to pay off their mortgage, and did not expect to have to see it greatly reduce in value just to fund their later years.

Education

She was accused of damaging schools by her policies.

‘You’ve clearly failed,’ one viewer told her.

Winter fuel allowance

The Tories plan to means test the allowance for pensioners, but was accused of dividing England and Scotland given that it is a devolved issue so people could face differences.

She said poorer pensioners will be protected but did not give details about where the levels would be set.

Brexit

She was confronted by a Leave voter who said she regretted her choice and only made it because of the ‘lie’ printed on the Brexit campaign bus that there would be an extra £350 million per week for the NHS.

Mrs May said there were claims made on both sides (it’s worth noting that she campaigned for Remain so was not responsible for the bus).

The NHS

A midwife from Devon asked her about ‘chronic under-funding’ of the health service.

Theresa May said a strong economy was vital to funding with NHS.

But the questioner told her: ‘I see a lot of efficiency savings that are cuts; I see hospitals closing; I see staff at their wits’ ends because they can’t give the care they want to – I will believe it when I see it.’

EU Negotiations

She indicated she would be prepared to walk away without a deal at the end of Brexit negotiations.

‘I will be being a difficult woman and ensuring we are negotiating hard,’ she told Jeremy Paxman.

But she stressed: ‘No deal would be better than a bad deal’.

And she said if the EU seemed to be trying to punish Britain, it would be better to leave the table empty handed.