Nigel Farage says he's "dismayed" at "reprehensible" comments from Reform UK campaigners in Clacton, Essex - where Farage is a candidate
Reform campaigners were filmed by an undercover Channel 4 team making racist, homophobic and Islamophobic comments
"The appalling sentiments expressed by some in these exchanges bear no relation to my own views," says Farage
One Reform canvasser used a racial slur to refer to Rishi Sunak
Earlier, Keir Starmer criticised a "desperate" Tory advert telling voters not to "surrender" to Labour
Sunak defended the advert, saying he didn't want people "sleepwalking" into a Labour government
Image source, Getty ImagesOfficial viewing figures show more people tuned into the football than the election debate last night.
While over 4 million viewers started watching the Georgia-Portugal game on ITV at 8pm last night, it reached 6.1 million viewers towards the end.
Meanwhile, 2.9 million viewers were recorded during the peak moments as Sunak and Starmer as were going head-to-head on BBC.
The BBC debate in Nottingham last night was the last head-to-head of the election campaign.
BBC Verify has taken a look at the claims from Sunak and Starmer.
Have 50,000 people crossed the Channel under Sunak?
Keir Starmer: "Since Rishi Sunak became prime minister 50,000 people have come across by small boats."
He is right about that.
The Home Office publishes figures, external going back to 2018 - for people detected crossing the English Channel in small boats. The exact number detected since Rishi Sunak became prime minister on 25 October 2022 is 50,108.
Will Labour's net zero plans cost hundreds of billions?
Rishi Sunak: "We've just found a recording that they have put out there from the deputy chancellor from the Labour Party admitting that their plans will cost hundreds of billions of pounds.”
The prime minister was making a reference to a Daily Telegraph story, external.
But this figure is consistent with existing estimates for reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which is enshrined in law and also Conservative policy.
You can read more from BBC Verify's analysis here.
Simon Jack
Business editor
Image source, PA MediaCloser ties with Europe was part of Labour’s sales pitch to businesses at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) annual conference.
Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said pragmatic, mutually beneficial changes with our closest trading partner were possible without “opening up the wounds of the past” and jeopardising the stability, that he said, a Labour government would provide after years of political and economic turbulence.
But he also asked businesses to give workers greater stability in return and he was challenged in the room that Labour’s plans to beef up workers' rights could prove a disincentive for companies to hire and invest.
Reynolds acknowledged that Unite did not fully endorse their manifesto but insisted that Labour could be the party of both business and workers and that the standards they will impose are ones that most companies already operate.
The current Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch has said business is “terrified” of Labour's workplace plans.
She will address the conference this afternoon.
Image source, Conservative PartyA senior Conservative candidate reportedly placed an £8,000 bet on losing his seat at the general election.
Sir Philip Davies neither confirmed nor denied the wager reported by the Sun, external, but rejected suggestions he had done "anything illegal".
He's been the Tory MP for Shipley since 2005. He is defending a 6,242 majority in the West Yorkshire seat.
"I hope to win. I'm busting a gut to win. I expect to lose," he told the newspaper.
Click here for more on that story.
Full list of candidates standing in Shipley: Independent - Nagbea, Reform UK - Simon Dandy, Conservative - Philip Davies, Labour - Anna Dixon, The Yorkshire Party - Will Grant, Workers Party of Britain - Waqas Khan, Christian Peoples Alliance - Darryl Morton-Wright, Liberal Democrat - Graham Reed, Social Democratic Party - Paul Shkurka, Green - Kevin Warnes
Seven officers are under investigation so far over alleged betting on the timing of the general election, the Metropolitan Police has confirmed.
One of those officers was arrested and bailed on suspicion of misconduct in public office on 17 June, and has been put on "restricted duties".
The Metropolitan Police also confirmed it will investigate "a small number" of bets made on the timing of the general election as part of a joint investigation led by the Gambling Commission.
The force said the vast majority of cases relating to alleged cheating will be investigated by the regulator.
However, where there is a suspicion of an additional offence - such as misconduct in public office - then the Met's specialist crime command will be brought in to investigate.
Det Supt Katherine Goodwin said: "We have agreed a joint approach with the Gambling Commission, who are the appropriate authority to investigate the majority of these allegations.
"There will, however, be a small number of cases where a broader criminal investigation by the police is required."
Image source, Getty ImagesShadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson has weighed in on a row between women and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch and actor David Tennant.
The Doctor Who star said he wished the Conservatives' Badenoch would "shut up" at the British LGBT Awards last week.
She responded on X saying she would "not be silenced", external.
Trans rights campaigners have criticised Badenoch's views on gender.
"I personally don't like that kind of language that was used," Phillipson tells Times Radio, adding she believes there should a "respectful" and "tolerant" discussion.
"I know that politicians, particularly female politicians, receive an awful lot of abuse sometimes and do frequently face that kind of language being used against them," Phillipson adds.
Image source, ReutersEarlier we reported some of Sir Ed Davey's comments on 5 Live about the Lib Dem stance on cannabis and tobacco usage.
Let's have a look at exactly what the party has proposed.
The Lib Dems want to create a "regulated market for cannabis" - but only low-strength products would be available.
The party says that would "take 'skunk' off the streets" and hit criminal gangs who profit from selling high-strength strains of the drug.
Only adults would be allowed to legally buy cannabis from retailers with a licence, which would be compelled to follow strict limits on potency levels.
As for tobacco, the party's manifesto does not specifically mention a ban, but the party did back the government's efforts to phase out the use of cigarettes.
As a reminder, earlier this year MPs voted to back plans to create a "smoke-free generation" by introducing a progressive law that would increase the legal age for cigarette sales annually, meaning anyone born after 2009 would never be able to legally buy them.
The law did not get final approval before Parliament was dissolved for the election - but Labour and the Conservatives are committed to it.
The Lib Dems also want a new levy on tobacco company profits which it would put towards funding for healthcare.
Image source, EPASir Ed Davey has been facing tricky questions about the Post Office scandal on Radio 5 Live.
One listener asked: "How can we trust you when you had your eyes shut at the Post Office and refused to meet Alan Bates?"
Davey - who became Post Office minister in 2010 - has been repeatedly questioned over what he did and didn't do about the scandal while in government, including declining to meet campaigners.
In February, the BBC revealed Davey was warned not meeting Bates could result in bad publicity. He met the former sub-postmaster five months later by has said he regrets not doing it sooner.
He told the BBC: "I've admitted I made a mistake, I just got into office and Mr Bates wrote to me and asked for a meeting, and I wrote back to him and said I didn't think it was appropriate for me to [meet him], he should go to the Post Office.
"He wrote back very quickly, quite angry, and I said 'well, I want to meet him'."
A man who was arrested as part of the Westminster 'honeytrap' investigation has been bailed.
The suspect, who is in his mid-20s, was arrested yesterday on suspicion of offences under the Online Safety Act and harassment.
Earlier this year a string of men, mostly working in politics, revealed they had received unsolicited, flirtatious WhatsApp messages from people calling themselves "Charlie" or "Abi". In some cases, explicit images were exchanged.
William Wragg, then an MP, resigned the Conservative whip after saying he gave the phone numbers of fellow MPs to a man he met on a dating app because he was "scared".
On Wednesday, Labour said it had suspended a party member after being notified of their arrest in Islington.
National government should pay to support children with complex special needs, rather than local authorities, Sir Ed Davey says.
The Liberal Democrat leader told BBC Radio 5 Live that local authorities have run up huge debts because they can't cope with very expensive cases.
Davey has spoken openly about his own son's special needs during this campaign and the party have campaigned heavily on health and social care.
He says he's struggled to get his own child's needs met, saying "it's a constant fight" and "the system is failing".
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey is facing questions from BBC Radio 5 Live listeners - one of whom points out the party is in favour of legalising cannabis but wants to ban cigarettes.
Davey says there is an "overwhelming" health case for banishing cigarettes, and he is opposed to high-strength strains of cannabis being available legally.
The Lib Dems want a regulated legal cannabis market with "much less potent" products available, adding he also doesn't oppose people having nicotine in vapes.
Asked whether he has ever smoked cannabis, he admits to "a few occasions" at university - underlining it was "very seldom".
A further question is put to Davey about legalising cannabis and mushrooms to generate more tax revenue.
"All we're trying to do is have evidence-based health policies," he adds, saying politicians need to listen to those who have done the research.
He says the Lib Dem approach will free up police resources to go after the drug barons.
Image source, PA MediaThere could be further NHS strikes this summer unless the next government makes quick progress on resolving the junior doctors' strike, medics have warned.
Trainee doctors in England began a five-day strike at 7am today, which is due to end on 2 July - just two days before voters go to the polls.
It's their 11th strike since the dispute began in 2022, with the British Medical Association (BMA) calling for a pay to be gradually hiked by 35%.
The BMA's Dr Vivek Trivedi says the current strike mandate doesn't run out until 19 September and "if talks do not move in a timely manner, then of course our members would expect us to call for strike action."
Figures suggest that more than 1.4 million planned appointments and procedures have had to be rescheduled since industrial action began about 20 months ago.
Image source, PA MediaWe've just heard Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, being questioned over her party's calls for an emergency health and social care budget within four weeks of the general election.
She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that health services are "on the brink" and insisted the party's plan to invest £9.5bn is fully-funded and would be "transformational".
However, she would not be drawn on how the party would cover funding pressures which aren't already included in its plan, such as workforce pay and building repairs.
Those bills are on top of the money the NHS needs to keep operating.
Pressed on whether the Lib Dem plan really goes far enough, Cooper said: “What we’re talking about is an emergency budget to start tackling the systemic problems that underpin some of the challenges facing the NHS."
Andrew Kerr
BBC Scotland political correspondent
The general election debate in Scotland is likely to be largely focused in the chamber of the Scottish Parliament today.
It's the final First Minister's Questions before the summer recess and the parties will want to press home key election messages.
Expect lively exchanges when John Swinney of the SNP debates Douglas Ross of the Scottish Conservatives and Anas Sarwar of Labour.
All the leaders are expected to be out on the trail later today.
Swinney will say the NHS is safe in public hands under the SNP during his campaign stop.
The health service is the focus for Sarwar too, with the Labour team in Fife to visit a health-related charity.
Ross will be at a distillery in East Lothian, telling voters there are just seven days for the Conservatives to beat the SNP and focus on key priorities.
Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Alex Cole-Hamilton will drop into to a tech centre in Edinburgh to highlight the need for better broadband.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey is about to take listeners' calls on BBC Radio 5 Live with Nicky Campbell.
We'll be bringing you the highlights here on this page over the next hour.
You can also listen live here.
If Labour's Bridget Phillipson is education secretary in a week's time, one of the most urgent issues facing her department will be higher education funding.
There have been repeated warnings from the sector that some universities are under massive financial pressure, with some facing the prospect of going out of business.
The Office for Students has warned four in ten universities are going into deficit this year - and yet, it is put to Phillipson that there is no more money for universities in Labour's manifesto.
She tells BBC Radio 4 the next government will have to "stabilise" the sector and ensure that universities are once again treated as "engines of growth", but does not commit to new spending.
Phillipson also says "strong regulation" is needed to ensure the sector is stable in the long run.
"There will be no return to the single market, customs union, or freedom of movement" if people vote Labour on 4 July, Bridget Phillipson says.
The shadow education secretary tells the BBC: "Those red lines are there, Keir Starmer has set them out and we will stick to them."
Labour wants to renegotiate the trade deal the UK signed with the EU after Brexit, which it says is holding back growth.
Critics say the EU will refuse to change post-Brexit trade arrangements unless the UK becomes far more closely aligned with the bloc.
Earlier this week, the EU's former chief negotiator Michel Barnier said freedom of movement would need to be part of an improve trade deal.
Phillipson tells Radio 4's Today programme that a future Labour government would not budge on those red lines in pursuit of a new deal.
Image source, PA MediaMoving on from small boats to Brexit, Hollinrake is pressed on whether British business have benefited from the UK's departure from the European Union.
The small businesses minister says "some" have, arguing it is now easier to trade with other parts of the world.
He is then played a clip from Shevaun Haviland, the Director General of the Board of the British Chambers of Commerce, who says Brexit is costing firms money and time.
Some companies are deciding to stop exporting to the EU altogether, and that is shrinking the UK economy, she says.
Hollinrake accepts some businesses want the government to "ease those restrictions" that have arisen as a result of Brexit but tells the BBC that most British exports are sent further afield than Europe.
Labour says it will negotiate a better deal with Brussels - but "at what price", asks Hollinrake.
Image source, ReutersWe're now hearing from business minister Kevin Hollinrake on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
He's asked about Rishi Sunak's claim during the debate that small boat crossings are going down when they are at record highs this year.
Hollinrake says Sunak was talking about the last 12 months but accepts there has been a "spike" this year.
When pressed on why numbers are going up if the Rwanda scheme acts as a deterrent, Hollinrake says: "Because clearly they see an election going on."
It's put to him that numbers were going up before the election was called and the minister is challenged on the notion numbers are rising because there is a prospect of a Labour government.
"I think you're totally wrong," Hollinrake says.
All the big parties are hitting the campaign trail today as the race enters the home straight.
The gambling row will still be high on the agenda when Rishi Sunak faces the media during visits to a factory in Derbyshire and an evening campaign event in Leeds.
Sir Keir Starmer is going to be on the Labour battle bus in the North West and West Midlands, to promote his party’s plans for work experience in schools.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey will be doing a phone-in on BBC 5 Live with Nicky Campbell from 9am, before heading to the North West, West Midlands and Oxfordshire.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is speaking at a rally in County Durham, while SNP leader John Swinney will be in Edinburgh.
Stick with us as we will bring you all the latest.