David Deans
BBC Wales politics reporter

Vaughan Gething is challenged on his decision to take £200,000 from a company owned by a man previously convicted of environmental offences during his leadership campaign.

Mr Gething says "of course I regret the difficulties it has caused to a range of people".

He says he followed "all the rules" but recognised "there is real concern".

"Knowing everything I know now, I would not have wanted all the difficulty that has been presented," he tells the debate.

Forcefully, he says he has "never ever made a decision" as a minister for his own personal gain.

Jack Grey
BBC Wales News

Mr Gething describes criticism from Mr Davies for deleting WhatsApp messages during the pandemic as "shameful and dishonest".

"We have provided thousands of documents to the public inquiry, I have given evidence," he says.

He says the government make extraordinarily difficult choices during the "once in a generation" pandemic to "keep the country safe".

Davies pressured on betting allegationspublished at 19:48 British Summer Time 21 June

19:48 BST 21 June

Gareth Lewis
BBC Wales political editor

The Welsh secretary took a bit of flak from Jane Dodds and Oliver Lewis for the allegations about Tory insiders betting on the election.

Mr Davies said he was furious and disappointed and, without mentioning it specifically, alluded to one of the other scandals we’ve been covering over the past few months.

He said he expects higher standards from politicians, including the first minister, whose tenure has been dogged by controversy over donations to his leadership campaign.

David Deans
BBC Wales political reporter

David TC Davies says "funding is not an excuse" for 20,000 people "waiting more than two years" for Welsh NHS treatment.

He accuses the Welsh government of refusing "point blank" at having a Covid inquiry.

But he accuses Mr Gething of "deleting all the important WhatsApp" messages that could have been important information to such an inquiry.

Mr Gething immediately says: "That really is shameful and dishonest." He says the Welsh government gave thousands of documents to the public inquiry.

He says a message where he said he was deleting messages from a group was trying remind colleagues about unkind comments about others.

Health in Wales under the spotlightpublished at 19:46 British Summer Time 21 June

19:46 BST 21 June

Owain Clarke
BBC Wales health correspondent

It's no surprise that the audience want to know what the Welsh political leaders would do about the NHS - even though health is a devolved issue.

Surveys consistently show health is a top issue whatever the election, and Labour's record on health in Wales has already been under the spotlight in this campaign.

Only yesterday, the latest NHS stats showed that waiting lists in Wales had grown to a new record with 602,900 individuals waiting for planned NHS treatments in Wales in April - one in five of the population.

But it's the comparison with England on the longest waits that is most striking with 21.2% of those on the Welsh waiting lists waiting more than a year compared to 4% in England.

And there are 21,289 instances in Wales where somebody had waited more than two years, compared to just 275 in England.

Steve Duffy
BBC Wales News

First Minister Vaughan Gething referred to an extra £450m being spent on the health service in Wales.

We can see how spending has risen over the years.

The budget for the core NHS Wales services passed £10bn for 2024-25.

David Deans
BBC Wales political reporter

Jane Dodds says she was "ashamed" of the effect of austerity from the years of the Conservative - Liberal Democrat coalition.

She says the NHS in Wales "feels like it’s broken" and along with social care it did not feel that there was a system that cares "for our most vulnerable".

She says a higher carer allowance would allow people to stay "in their homes in dignity".

Jack Grey
BBC Wales News

The Welsh NHS has suffered a "double whammy" of austerity from the Conservatives and mismanagement by Welsh Labour, according to Rhun ap Iorwerth.

He claims Welsh Labour don't have a plan for the NHS, and that the Welsh government needs to "get behind its workforce", which Labour has "failed to do for 25 years".

David Deans
BBC Wales political reporter

Oliver Lewis claims there is a lack of a specialist children’s hospital in Wales and adds: "Why do our politicians accept the culture of waiting lists?"

"It’s shameful, the state of the country," he says.

He's pressed on how reform would, as promised, eliminate waiting lists. He says they would remove caps on numbers who could be trained in the UK.

Jack Grey
BBC Wales News

Question two comes from audience member Jean Cannon.

She asks: "With the NHS in decline and 20% of the population on waiting lists, how do you intend to fight for the survival of our NHS?"

Mr Gething concedes that "people are waiting too long" for treatment "in real discomfort" in Wales.

"I am here because the NHS looked after me when I had a serious kidney disease when I was 19," he says.

He adds that Welsh Labour are already investing £1bn into the Welsh NHS to "tackle the pandemic backlog".

Mr Gething claims a Labour government in Westminster will result in more funding being allocated to Wales to spend on its health service.

David Deans
BBC Wales political reporter

The debate has heard the issue of Craig Williams' betting raised once again.

Mr Williams apologised and said he had made a "huge error of judgement" over betting on the date of the next general election.

He is being looked into by the Gambling Commission over allegations of bets, as are three other people linked to the prime minister.

Rishi Sunak said on Thursday night that he was "incredibly angry" to learn of the allegations.

Image source, UK Parliament

David Deans
BBC Wales political reporter

David TC Davies is asked about the allegations of general election betting.

Welsh Tory candidate Craig Williams is among those involved.

Mr Davies says he has not made any bets whatsoever and has not done for years.

He says when he took over the Wales Office "I realised there was a lot of unhappiness about general standards".

Mr Davies says he had ditched "the ministerial car" and stopped any alcohol being consumed or served.

Pressed by Jane Dodds on whether candidates being looked at should be suspended, Mr Davies says: "It's not my role to suspend people."

What's the tax situation in Wales?published at 19:27 British Summer Time 21 June

19:27 BST 21 June

Felicity Evans
BBC Wales money editor

For all the talk about income tax (IT) and national insurance (NI), it’s worth remembering that overall in Wales we pay more in VAT than we do in either IT or NI.

Together they are the big three income raisers for the UK government, making up 64% of all UK government revenues.

VAT is a tax on many of the goods and services we buy and it raised about £170bn across the UK in 2023-24.

Anyone who earns less than £12,570 a year doesn’t pay income tax or national insurance.

In 2023 around 46% of adults in Wales didn’t pay income tax, and even more didn’t pay NI, so VAT is likely to be the biggest tax they pay.

The panellists are asked by an audience member what they are doing to help increase the disposable income they have.

Dodds says the Conservatives "have to be held to account" for their "significant trashing of the economy".

"It is shameful that we live in Wales where 30% of our children are living in poverty, and to be honest Welsh Labour are not doing enough either".

Asked what her party would do, she says her party would tax the "super rich" to fund £760m could be spent in Wales.

David Deans
BBC Wales political reporter

David TC Davies accused Labour of "giving out this narrative" that Liz Truss had caused inflation in October 2022.

He suggested inflation had peaked across the EU "at the same time".

"It happened across the whole of Europe," he says.

"What about mortgages?," intervenes Jane Dodds.

"Mortgage rates went up because Bank of England rates went up to bring down inflation," Mr Davies replies.

Jack Grey
BBC Wales News

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth criticises the Tories and Labour for lack of commitments to helping people with the cost of living in their manifestos.

He says his party would increase child benefit by £20 a week, while claiming both Labour and the Tories are wedded to £18bn worth of cuts.

He added his party would "absolutely" not raise tax people on low or middle incomes.

However he said there are parts of the economy, including large businesses, that can pay more.

Steve Duffy
BBC Wales News

The cost of living came up first in the debate.

Only this week, the latest inflation figures came out showing that prices rose by 2% in the year to the end of May., external

This was down slightly on the 2.3% figure for the 12 months to the end of April.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) produces a handy shopping basket tool so you can work out how much basic food stuffs are costing you.

David Deans
BBC Wales political reporter

Reform's Oliver Lewis accused the other parties of "whataboutery" - and reading off a brief.

He said Margaret Thatcher made a mistake by privatising utilities – he said they need to be brought back into public ownership.

"The privatisation of the utilities has been a disaster," he said.

Mr Lewis is asked about Reform's plans to cut billions from the welfare bill, and who in Wales will not get benefits under the party.

"We really are the new Labour party," says Mr Lewis to heckles in the audience, denying the party would cut welfare.

David Deans
BBC Wales political reporter

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds says: "Food and fuel has gone up by 25% in the last two years. I read somewhere if you are making a spaghetti Bolognese now it cost £2 more than it did two years ago."

She challenges the Conservatives and Labour to "abolish the two child cap on benefits, because that is making families poorer".

Vaughan Gething says there is a manifesto pledge to review the benefits system.

"I’m confirmed we will have a fairer benefits system to support families into work and help them out of poverty," he says.

Wales first minister and Welsh Labour leader Vaughan Gething says a Labour government is needed to improve the economy, as the nation is still feeling the impact of Liz Truss' time as PM.

"Liz Truss' mini budget permanently raised the cost of mortgages across the country and we are still paying the price for that now," he says

He says Labour's plan to "heavily invest" in the green energy, "the energy of the future", will provide jobs.

Not just clean energy that is good for planet, but good for jobs, and it will mean we are not vulnerable to foreign dictators like Putin for our energy supply.