It definitely feels like Keir Starmer is being more direct and more personal than in the first debate, where he received some criticism for being occasionally flat-footed.

He just won a round of applause from the audience for saying to Rishi Sunak: “If you listened to members of the public more often you might not be so out of touch”.

It’s always worth keeping track of which lines win applause in the room, though of course what matters to the leaders isn’t winning the debate among the 120 people in the room, but connecting with wavering voters watching at home.

Another clear sign that Rishi Sunak’s main line of attack tonight will be on tax.

The Conservative Party has rebranded its press account on X/Twitter tonight as "Tax Check UK”.

They received some criticism for a similar rebrand during the 2019 general election debates.

Starmer begins his answer before being cut off by Sunak - he then attacks the PM by telling him if he listened to people around the country more then he "wouldn't be so out of touch" - to a round of applause.

He then outlines Labour's plans on getting people back into work - before saying Sunak has raised tax 26 times.

Sunak says he wants to reform the "sick note" process (a policy announced earlier this year).

He says it is "not fair" for people who are offered jobs after 12 months out of work and do not accept them.

And he maintains there's money to be saved from the welfare budget if the government tightens this up.

The next question comes from Beverley McKenzie, who says she's worked all her life but had to stop due to illness.

She says disabled people like her are hit in the worst way - "how will candidates ensure we're not hit by benefit sanctions?"

Sunak says there's a "clear choice" in this election - lower taxes and lower welfare with the Conservatives, or higher taxes and higher welfare with Labour.

He says "strongly believes" people are better off in work, but that the number of people on ill health and disability benefits is 800,000 higher than it was during the pandemic.

Starmer says work is not just about pay, but also dignity and respect.

He mentions his dad's work as a toolmaker - a line some of you may be familiar with by now - and says having a secure job "was important to him".

"If you can work you should work," Starmer says.

Part of this, the Labour leader says, is due to NHS waiting lists, which he says are too long and keep people off work.

He's met with a round of applause from the studio audience.

As the two politicians exchange barbs over the alleged betting scandal and taxation, the repeated sound of shouts can be heard in the background.

It's not clear what's being said, but the shouts are understood to be coming from protestors standing outside Nottingham Trent University, where the debate is taking place.

The next question comes from Mary Armstrong, who asks the leaders what they will do to help people come off benefits and get back into work.

Husain returns to the original question, and asks Starmer if he knows if anyone else in his party was betting on the election.

Starmer says his candidates know he expects "high standards" from them.

He had said earlier that he would act swiftly if a Labour candidate was gambling, and that's what he did, he says.

This debate is direct, personal and heated within minutes.

It's perhaps little surprise that the first question from the audience was about the gambling saga which has developed rapidly over the past few days.

Starmer quickly lays the blame at the prime minister’s door, saying Sunak had not "led from the front" on standards in politics more generally.

He linked this episode to Partygate, when Sunak as well as Boris Johnson, the then prime minister, received a fixed penalty notice from the Met Police.

Sunak hit back by saying that Starmer is not being "honest about his plans to raise their taxes" and that this shows he is not displaying "leadership".

That's a clear signal that, like the previous debate between this pair, Sunak intends to make taxes his main attack.

Starmer accuses the prime minister of taking "delayed" action on gambling allegations.

Husain puts this to Sunak.

Sunak hits back, saying he took internal action after an independent inquiry.

I was "furious" by the allegations, he adds.

Sunak says leadership is about being straight with people, and goes on the attack, accusing Starmer of not being straight about plans for tax raises.

Keir Starmer says he wants to "reset politics" if he becomes PM and return politics to the principle of public service.

Starmer says he suspended his candidate within minutes, contrasting it with Sunak who delayed doing the same thing.

For context: On Tuesday, after days of questions,the Conservatives withdrew support for two of their parliamentary candidates -Laura Saunders and Craig Williams - who are under investigation.

Labour has suspended one of its candidates, Kevin Craig, who is under investigation after betting he would lose his bid to become an MP.

Rishi Sunak says he was "frustrated and furious" when he learned of the betting allegations.

He says the Conservatives initiated their own internal inquiry and suspended two candidates.

Audience member Sue Barclay begins with a question on trust in politics.

She says: "People are dismayed by the lack of integrity and honesty in politics today - after the recent allegations about political betting, how would you restore trust in politics?"

Both leaders face very different tasks - the stakes could hardly be higherpublished at 20:16 26 June

20:16 26 June

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

It may be a cliche but it’s true: the stakes could hardly be higher for tonight’s head-to-head debate.

This is the last set-piece event of the campaign for both of the men who might be prime minister next Friday.

But it is also only the second time they have shared a stage together during the frantic five weeks they have been bouncing around Britain on the campaign trail.

If the polls are even close to correct, he needs to do much more than just seize the agenda tonight. He needs to change minds.

For Keir Starmer, the task is almost exactly inverse.

For so long Labour’s mantra has been no complacency, but privately party insiders say they believe their 14 years in opposition are coming to an end.

No pressure then, Starmer - his mission tonight is essentially not to mess up. Here we go.

And we're off - Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer are in position as they face off for one final television debate before the election next week

We'll be bringing you live updates on their exchanges, as well as analysis from our correspondents in Nottingham and fact-checks from the BBC Verify team.

Watch live at the top of this page - it promises to be a compelling 75 minutes of viewing.

Nothing to lose - and everything to losepublished at 20:07 26 June

20:07 26 June

Chris Mason
Political editor, reporting from the BBC debate spin room

Rishi Sunak has nothing to lose tonight. And Keir Starmer has everything to lose.

The central truth of this campaign thus far — if you believe the opinion polls — is that barely anything has changed between the Conservatives and Labour; Labour’s lead remains huge.

But there is still loads at stake in debates like this.

Three-and-a-bit weeks ago when ITV held their prime ministerial debate in Salford, the prime minister left the event more pleased with his performance than Keir Starmer was with his.

It was a moment when Starmer's relative inexperience in this kind of format was clear – the Labour leadership race is no real comparator in terms of audience size or the tone of the exchanges.

Rishi Sunak, by contrast, had been involved in some of the TV debates before the last general election in 2019, before he was prime minister.

And his tussle for the Tory leadership involved a prime time TV debate with Liz Truss on BBC One.

Sunak was punchy and aggressive in Salford, Starmer much less so.

Labour expect the prime minister to throw the kitchen sink at them tonight.

The Conservatives will want to talk tax, and what they believe is Labour’s lack of candour on what they will do with some of your taxes if they win.

They also want to talk immigration, and what they believe are the empty promises from Starmer on illegal immigration.

Labour, meanwhile, will emphasise what they believe is a huge hunger in the country for change, a change they hope to personify and Starmer appears more keen to be aggressive if needs be.

I’d wager a few pennies that the row about betting might just feature tonight, plus perhaps some of the biggies of the campaign so far: the cost of living, government finances, the health service and immigration.

Let’s see in a few moments' time.

As Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer go head-to-head for the last time in this election campaign, I’ll be chairing the 75-minute debate, aiming to get voters’ questions answered - and as fully as possible.

I see the role as a privilege, but I know it won’t be easy and there have been times I’ve wished someone else was at the helm and I could watch from my sofa. But those moments pass.

I can’t predict how the overall tone will be, because that depends on the debaters, for whom these 75 minutes carry both opportunity and risk.

They will not know what questions are coming, and the experience will be exacting and possibly, exposing.

But it is also a route through which they can reach millions of people - some of them yet to decide how they will cast their vote.

Good evening to those of you joining us for the BBC’s Prime Ministerial Debate.

The debate begins at 20:15 BST - here's how we're covering it:

• My colleagues back in our London newsroom are capturing the blow-by-blow of the leaders' exchanges
• Our chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman will be firing out snap analysis, while I work on round-ups of the key lines so you can catch up with all the action afterwards
• Also on hand are BBC Verify, offering quickfire fact-checking
• And our video team are cutting the most eye-catching moments

You will also be able to follow live - hit the watch live button at the top of this page.