Image source, PA Media

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer is now on the stage, with the first question from Holly Cole on former party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

"Last week you said Corbyn would have been a better prime minister than Boris Johnson. What would Jeremy Corbyn have done better in the UK's response to the war in Ukraine?" he asks.

Starmer says he will do something he does rarely: praise Boris Johnson, saying the former PM took a strong stance on Ukraine..

It's in the "national interest" to speak with "one voice" on Ukraine, Starmer says.

Is Sunak's claim about reading levels in England right?published at 18:12 British Summer Time 24 June

18:12 BST 24 June

During the Sun interview, we heard Rishi Sunak say English children are “the best readers in the western world”.

This claim, however, depends on which international reading assessment is used.

England does rank highest among western countries in the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).

This study , external– which is carried out every five years – tests reading skills of 10-year-olds.

However, a different picture emerges if looking at the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa)study., external

Pisa focuses on 15-16 year olds and in their 2022 latest assessment, England is behind Ireland, Canada, and the United States.

Cole now asks Sunak if he regrets calling the election early.

"No" is the answer, with the PM explaining: "Because my number one priority was to get the economy in a strong position. That's what we have done in the last 18 months."

The PM goes on to say he will "work his socks off" if re-elected on 4 July. That brings his questions to a close, next up is Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

On a question from Harry Cole about the government's record, Sunak admits he wishes there was more progress in some areas and that the last few years have been "frustrating".

However, he says he won't sit there and say the last 14 years haven't "made the country a better place" - citing increased defence spending and the growth rate.

Image source, PA Media

That's the next question put to the PM during the Sun's Q&A session.

"I spent a summer saying that what Liz Truss was proposing was wrong," Sunak says.

"I kept saying it because I didn't think it was right for our country. I was very clear when I first got this job, that mistakes had been made, I was right when I warned about Liz Truss," he adds, and argues that's why people should believe him when he "warns the country about Keir Starmer".

The PM then reiterates a widely criticised claim about Labour's tax plans - that the party would raise taxes by £2,000 per working household. The UK statistics watchdog previously said anyone who heard Sunak say this would have no way of knowing that was a sum totalled over four years.

More now on housing, with Linda in the audience asking Sunak how he feels about high interest rates and how this has affected mortgage repayments or have lost their homes.

Sunak says he made it his number one priority to bring inflation down.

"As you can see we got back to target last week," Sunak says, on inflation dropping to 2% according to figures for May.

How does that help people who lost their homes? Linda asks.

"All of this is about giving people financial security," Sunak says, adding that he wants to continue cutting taxes and putting "more money in people's bank accounts".

Image source, PA Media

A student "who is about to enter the world of work" and is worried about the housing crisis asks the prime minister if he can look him in the eye and "tell me that you are comfortable with young people being forced to rent until they are in their 40s".

"No, of course I am not," Sunak says.

"Owning your own home is part of what allows you to build a life, build a family and gives you a stake in your community."

Sunak says he will introduce "two very specific things":

"One is to reintroduce new Help to Buy scheme. Second thing we want to do is to abolish stamp duty for first time buyers. Because the challenge I see is how long will it take me to save up deposit."

A woman from the audience tells Sunak how her father recently died after waiting nine months for a cancer diagnosis.

"We feel we have been let down after 18 months of hell," she says.

Sunak says he's "so sorry to hear about your dad", adding that he will "look into it and find out what went wrong".

When it comes to cancer, the most important thing you can do is diagnose early, Sunak says, reminding the audience he's from an NHS family.

He says the Tories will roll out more community diagnostic centres.

"I can only apologise for what happened to you," he adds.

Sunak now takes his first question from the audience and is asked whether it's financially counterproductive to have skilled necessary migrants employed in the UK while many people in receipt of health benefits stay at home.

Sunak agrees that the welfare bill has spiralled since Covid.

He says everyone who can work should and that his party's reforms will deliver that.

Harry Farley
Reporting from the spin room

I’m in the “spin room” behind the set for The Sun’s election special with Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.

It’s crowded and noisy - full journalists from most of the country’s main newspapers and broadcasters.

It will be the third time the two leaders have faced a live audience question and answer session.

This time the audience is of Sun readers. We’re told the paper tried to pick undecided voters with a roughly equal gender balance.

In previous iterations of this format, questions from the public have caused both leaders difficulties.

Sir Keir Starmer struggled to answer questions about whether he was “robotic”, while Rishi Sunak was challenged over not just his record, but the past 14 years of Conservative government.

We've already seen a tough examination from the Sun's political editor, with plenty more to follow from readers.

• You can watch it live on YouTube, external

More now on the PM's pledge to "stop the boats", with Rishi Sunak pressed on why he called the election before flights went to Rwanda?

If I'm your PM the flights will go to Rwanda in July, Sunak says.

People don't believe the flights are going to go, Cole responds.

"I've got a plan," Suank says.

He says 15 other countries all agree our approach is the right one.

Is the pledge to stop the boats impossible to do? Cole asks the PM. Harry Cole thinks it is, and asks Sunak if he regrets promising to do so.

"No," Sunak answers briefly and continues:

"Because I want people to know where I stand. I think illegal migration is unfair. I want to do everything I can to stop it."

Sunak says that over the last 12 months the numbers are lower than before. Cole says they are higher over this year already.

"I am being clear, we haven't done the job yet. The flights will go to Rwanda, people will be removed in July," Sunak says if he is elected.

Next up, Rishi Sunak is asked whether he understands feelings among the public that "nothing works".

The Tory leader acknowledges that the past couple of years things have been difficult but he adds he doesn't think it's correct to say there's been no progress in the 14 years the party has been in power.

He cites education specifically, saying that the Conservatives have ensured school children are the "best readers" in the Western world.

Sunak is asked what mistakes his party have made.

He replies saying he senses people's frustrations, but adds that it's been a "very difficult few years" with Covid and the war in Ukraine.

The PM notes that he got his job as a result of mistakes by his predecessors, but he says the choice is clear: to "build on the progress I've made".

Cole now asks Sunak what the recent betting allegations say about his leadership.

The PM reiterates that the inquiries haven't concluded and says it's important that nothing anyone says or does compromises the integrity of those investigations.

Sunak says the party will act on the findings and repeats that internal inquiries are ongoing.

Cole presses that "it looks like the last days of Rome," adding that the betting issue "sums up everything gone wrong with your government, with the Tory governments".

"I am as angry as anybody when I learned about these things. I am incredibly angry," Sunak says.

He adds that anyone who has broken the rules will be booted out.

Sunak responds that when he came into No 10 he wanted to provide economic stability amid the cost of the living crisis.

He says that he has now brought down inflation - which was one of his five pledges - and this shows "we are on the right track".

He's next asked about Conservative candidates being looked into by the Gambling Commission over alleged bets on the date of the general election. Why haven't they been suspended?

The PM reiterates what he said earlier today, that his party is conducting internal inquiries and that these are "really serious matters".

"We won't hesitate to act" and if anyone has been found to have broken the law they will be removed from the party, he says.

Image source, PA Media

Rishi Sunak is now facing questions during the Sun's election Q&A.

The paper's political editor Harry Cole puts it to the PM that when he resigned from Boris Johnson's government, his resignation letter said that the public rightly expects the government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously.

"How do you feel you've upheld that as prime minister?" Cole asks Sunak.

In a few minutes' time, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer will be interviewed by the Sun's political editor Harry Cole in the broadcaster's live election special, external.

The interviews, due to begin at 17:30, will also give members of the public the chance to ask questions of the two political leaders.

We will be bringing you the key lines here - stay with us.

Jordan Kenny
Newsbeat politics reporter, in Belfast

BBC Newsbeat's Race Across the UK has been hearing from young prospective voters in Belfast today.

The question of a united Ireland has long been a central issue in Belfast and Northern Ireland and unsurprisingly, it’s come up on the election trail.

What might be surprising though, is that voters are telling me it’s less important to them than you might expect.

"It’s definitely a hot topic," Freddie, 18, tells Newsbeat. "But I don’t think it really affects what young people want to happen to the city and what they want to change."

Northern Ireland’s main parties clashed over the question of a united Ireland during an election debate on Sunday but Rachel, also 18, agrees with Freddie that it’s not one of her priorities going into this election.

"It’s definitely for younger people becoming less of an obvious thing that you think of straight away when you’re going to vote," she says.

What matters more, she says, are "things that can be done to unite everyone", like improving the cost of living and having more opportunities for people in the city.

"You see a lot of people from here that end up going away for uni and go to bigger cities because there’s more there," says Freddie.

"There’s more growth, more opportunities."

Jenni Davidson
Scotland political reporter, in Edinburgh

In Edinburgh, the leader of the Scottish Lib Dems has been out campaigning today - with a focus on the care sector.

Alex Cole-Hamilton says it's “absolutely central” to his party’s offer at this election, and on a visit to a care home in Edinburgh, says his party wants to make care a “profession of choice” again by introducing a new minimum wage for social care workers - which is £2 higher than the national minimum wage.

He also mentions the Conservative betting allegations.

They're a matter for the Gambling Commission, Cole-Hamilton says - but he adds that, if found to be true, “people in Number 10 are playing by a different set of rules to everything else - in it for the money, in it for themselves”.