Political leaders have faced challenging audience questions in a BBC Question Time Leaders' Special hosted by Fiona Bruce
Rishi Sunak was grilled on NHS waiting lists, Brexit and asked if he feels any “embarrassment” to be leader of the Conservative Party, given how many changes of leader it has had in the last few years
Labour leader Keir Starmer was asked about housing costs, his plans for the NHS and challenged on why he backed Jeremy Corbyn's election manifesto in 2019
SNP leader John Swinney was pressed over independence and the recent scandals in his party, admitting it's been a "turbulent time"
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey was asked about his campaigning antics, the party's spending plans and trust issues after the "broken promise" on tuition fees when in coalition government
A woman in the audience asks about migration and limits on people bringing their dependants (that's partners and children).
Sunaks says of course migrants make an impact - like his parents - but says levels of migration are "too high".
Bruce interjects - if people can't bring families, is that a disincentive?
Sunak says if people want to bring family, they need to demonstrate they can support them.
There's a question from an NHS doctor who says morale is low because of lack of funding, with waiting lists up and more strikes. He asks how people can be confident in the service.
Sunak says more money is going to the NHS than at any time in its history – and he says he's sure BBC Verify will look into it. (We shall, stick with us.)
The PM says medics are indeed working very hard, and the government is working hard to make specific improvements.
Sunak admits "we haven't made as much progress as I would've liked" on waiting lists, before saying his government was putting "record investment into the NHS".
He adds that "those things are starting to make a difference".
Sunak then says over the past five months waiting lists have gone down, to which Bruce replies: "But waiting lists have just gone up!"
Sunak says he "freely acknowledges" this.
Sunak on trying to bring down NHS waiting lists
Questioner Ronald Thorn says NHS waiting lists have more than doubled under the Conservatives.
What message does Sunak have for those on waiting lists, particularly those who have been on there for more than a year, he asks.
A man in the audience highlights the impact of Brexit on young people, saying it has thrown young people "into the fire" and denied them a future.
Sunak says we have had a referendum in 2016 and the country has decided, and now the job is to realise the benefits.
He mentions a freeport in Teesside and jobs created there. He says it is an example of Brexit freedoms attracting investment and quality jobs.
Sunak: Time to get on and realise Brexit benefits
Bruce brings up a comment from the former head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Lord West, who said that Sunak's national service plan was "bonkers".
Sunak counters, saying he's spoken to lots of people in the armed forces about the plan.
He also says the military element will be optional, whereas national service overall will be compulsory.
Pushed on how it would be made compulsory, the PM says there will be sanctions.
Bruce pushes again - and he mentions "access to finance" and driving licenses as examples from abroad, but he says there are lots of examples elsewhere and a Royal Commission will ultimately look at what the scope of the programme could be.
A question now from a young male audience member on the Tories' national service pledge. He says he supports the plans, but many of his peers "can't see benefits".
How will it be enforced and incentivised, he asks.
Sunak brings up person who volunteered with St John Ambulance who helped someone hurt in fall - volunteering has transformed their life, he says, adding: "That's why national service is a good idea".
The next question is about what Sunak would do to rebuild trust.
Sunak says his grandparents came to the country with very little and he is now prime minister - the country did something extraordinary for his family and he says he now feels a debt of gratitude to the country.
He says he wants to make a difference to people in the same way the country benefitted his family.
Sunak says he was "incredibly angry" to learn of the allegations about betting on the election date, saying it's a "really serious matter".
"I want to be crystal clear anyone who has broken rules should face the full force of the law," he says.
Bruce asks whether Conservative candidates should be suspended, to which Sunak says investigations are ongoing, but anyone who has done something wrong will be "booted out" the party.
Watch: Sunak on election date betting investigations
Next we have a one from Graeme Donald, who asks whether the emerging allegations about betting on the election date are the "absolute epitome" of the Conservative ethics we have had to "tolerate" for years and years.
Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent
Well, Rishi Sunak didn’t have to wait as long as the others for his first round of applause of the night.
The problem was that it was for his inquisitor, who asked whether he felt any “embarrassment” to be leader of the Conservative Party.
Sunak energetically pointed out that he had warned against Liz Truss’s policies during the leadership campaign they fought against each other.
But the audience response to the question doesn’t seem like a good sign for the prime minister. To put it mildly.
Sunak replies by saying that he admitted "mistakes had been made" when he first entered Downing Street as prime minister.
But he says he also asked the public "to judge me on my 18 months" in office.
He says he came in with one primary job, "to bring back economic stability" and promises to continue cutting taxes.
The first question to Rishi Sunak is on the Conservatives' record.
We've had five prime ministers in the last seven years, the questioner says, and one of them only lasted six weeks and as a result we are "something of an international laughing stock". Is he embarrassed?
That's all from Keir Starmer, next up - and the final leader in tonight's line-up - is Rishi Sunak.
Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent
An audience member just used the word “supermajority”, pondering whether Sir Keir Starmer might win one.
That’s the line the Conservatives have been pushing for a week or so, initially via the defence secretary Grant Shapps and it quickly spread more widely across the campaign.
The tactic is to use the suggestion that Labour might win a massive majority to try to ensure that massive majority doesn’t happen.
The fact a member of the public just used the word will be taken by the Conservative campaign as a clear sign of “cut through”.
A man in the audience asks Starmer about Labour wanting to tax private school fees. Will it not put further pressure on state schools, he asks.
Starmer says he understands parents save hard to send children to private schools, but he says all parents are aspirational.
He points to pupils in state schools not having specialised maths teachers. He says it is inhibiting their future.
Starmer is asked how he can deal with polarised politics.
"I want to bring politics back to service," he says, adding that it has descended into self-entitlement, and become more divided and toxic over the last 15 years.
He says we have far more in common, than divides us, as Jo Cox – the murdered Labour MP – once said.
A question now from Kate Collins, who says: "Three years ago, you criticised your MP, Rosie Duffield, for saying only women have a cervix. You recently backtracked on this. What do you believe now and how do we know you’ll stick to it?"
Starmer says he agrees with Tony Blair on men having penises and women having vaginas.
But he adds that there are some people "who don't identify with the gender they're born into" and he wants to give "respect and dignity to everyone".
On Duffield, he says at the time he was worried about how the debate was conducted, saying it got "very toxic and divided".
He brings up Rishi Sunak "making a trans joke" when the mother of a murdered transgender teen was in Parliament.
Bruce pushes him - if you don't have a migration target, how can you plan public services?
Starmer says they have a plan for the social care workforce and house building.
Bruce parries - how he can plan for housing if they don't know how many people will be here?
Starmer replies stating Labour's plans to build 1.5m homes.
Starmer: Immigration must be balanced and work for UK
Starmer says migration is at "record levels" and the government has "completely lost control".
He insists he wants to get migration "down significantly", but he says he is not going to put a number on it because politicians have failed every time they've done that.
He adds the UK needs a skills strategy to make sure the country has the workforce it needs, like in social care.
For context: Net migration to the UK fell 10% last year after hitting a record high in 2022, official figures show. The number – the difference between the number of people arriving in the UK and leaving – was 685,000 in the year to December 2023, said the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which was a fall from a record 764,000 for the year to December 2022.