Thank you for joining our live coverage of tonight's election debate.

There will be continuing coverage of the general election campaign on the BBC News NI website and across BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Newsline over the next week.

You can watch the full Northern Ireland Leaders' debate on the BBC iPlayer by clicking here.

A version with signing is also available here.

To hear from three of Northern Ireland's smaller parties standing in the General Election, click here.

BBC News NI will be running a live page on results night, keeping you up-to-date with everything happening in the three count centres and beyond, until every seat is filled.

As soon as polls close at 22:00 BST on Thursday, Mark Carruthers, Mark Simpson and Enda McClafferty host a live BBC One NI programme which will be simulcast across BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio Foyle.

It'll also be streamed on the BBC News NI website.

Reporters Catherine Morrison, Elaine McGee and Richard Morgan will feed in developments from Belfast, Craigavon and Magherafelt, while analysts will be on-hand in the studio to assess what the results mean.

On Friday morning, Good Morning Ulster will start at the earlier time of 06:00 BST and everything from the studio and from the count centres will also be streamed on the BBC News NI website.

On Sunday 7 July, Mark Carruthers and guests will reflect on the results during an extended Sunday Politics.

Louise Cullen
BBC NI Agriculture & Environment Correspondent

With a little over 2,000 days to go to a key deadline in Northern Ireland’s road to net zero, you might have expected a bit more – or any – talk about some of the environmental challenges facing Northern Ireland.

By 2030, we should, for example:

• Be generating 80% of our electricity consumption from renewable sources
• Be recycling at least 70% of our waste
• Have planted 18m trees
• Have prioritised degraded peatlands for restoration to favourable status
• Have cut our greenhouse gas emissions by almost half (48%) compared to 1990.

But none of this featured, nor did the challenges of Lough Neagh, the planning frustrations of the renewable energy sector or the pressures on agriculture to cut emissions.

Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI political correspondent

The final whistle has been blown on the last of the big set-pieces of this campaign and the parties can all breathe a sigh of relief, for now.

Nobody skidded off the political pitch when it comes to each of their core messages.

There were naturally lots of lines of attack and defence that we've already heard being pushed over the past five weeks.

But, this time next week it'll be a different picture as the polls will have closed and counting will be well under way.

At times tonight it felt like we were watching an assembly election debate rather than a Westminster one, given the squabbles and soundbites around funding and reform of Stormont.

Expect those arguments to continue into extra time, even if not all of those behind the podiums tonight make it to Parliament.

Faye Tice
BBC News NI

Before the debate we spoke to audience members and undecided voters Joan, Mason and Wendy.

Now they've heard what Stormont's five largest parties had to say, what was their reaction and has it swayed them?

Joan, from Bessbrook, says she was impressed by the human aspect of the politicians. After what she describes as the "night of the year", she says she is now convinced of who she will vote for on election day.

Mason, from Newtownabbey, says he needs more time to consider his options but it was good to see that health was a top priority for all the parties.

Wendy, from Portadown, says there was too much "finger-pointing" and "blame game" rhetoric from some of the party leaders. After being undecided before, she tells BBC News NI she has come away "a bit clearer on who to vote for".

People Before Profit's Shaun Harkin says "there needs to be a redistribution of wealth" which should be redirected "towards public services".

He suggests wealth taxes could be a way to raise revenue for things like the NHS.

"There is so much wealth in the UK, unfortunately it is in the hands of a tiny minority of the people," he adds.

Brian Smyth of the Green Party says Northern Ireland's parties "talk the talk" but lack on action and environmental awareness.

"It's the same tired old voices," he adds, whose "only response is to go with a begging bowl to any future British government and ask for increased funding".

His party wants to look at a wealth tax on the richest one percent, he continues, to help pay for better public services and economic growth.

Jim Allister says that "unionism, for far too long, has been far too parochial".

"That's why, with Reform UK, I want to reach out on a pan-unionist approach into the rest of the United Kingdom," he adds.

Jim Allister, speaking on BBC Newsline, says for many unionists the key issue is reunifying the United Kingdom.

Referring to the question on trust during the previous debate, he says with the 'Safeguarding the Union Agreement' the DUP "tried to hoodwink people" in February and are now asking for their votes in July.

BBC Newsline has started where we are hearing from three of Northern Ireland's smaller parties standing in the General Election.

They are Jim Allister, Traditional Unionist Voice leader, Shaun Harkin, of People Before Profit, and Brian Smyth of the Green Party.

You can watch the programme by clicking play at the top of this page.

Is taking a side on the Middle East conflict another form of identity politics?

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long says "you just need to take a glance at lamp posts as you move around Northern Ireland and see that that's exactly what could happen".

Earlier during the debate when talking about the future of the union, Chris Hazzard said it wasn't about a unionist vote or a nationalist vote.

Referring to the Ireland's Future events he said those attending were from all political persuasions.

He echoed former Taoiseach (Irish PM) Leo Varadkar's comments, saying: "It is time now for the Irish government to ensure that re-unification is a political objective and not just an aspiration."

When asked about trust, UUP deputy leader Robbie Butler says the public is right "to be mistrustful of politicians right across these islands".

He says this is primarily because when some do not get their way "they take their players off the pitch", referring to previous collapses of the Executive.

Clodagh Rice
BBC News NI business correspondent

There was no mention in tonight’s debate of any support towards the cost of living - that’s probably a sign of the economic context of this election.

We know prices aren’t rising as rapidly as they were 18 months ago, with inflation returning to the Bank of England’s 2% target last month for the first time in three years.

However, prices have stabilised at a higher level, which is continuing to put pressure on household finances in Northern Ireland and businesses costs.

Claire Graham
BBC News NI's GE2024 social media reporter

I’m always interested to see how political parties use their social media reach during peak times.

X, formerly known as Twitter, is the UK population’s social media platform of choice for breaking news or developing events.

Of the five parties on the stage, only three were using X to live post / tweet comments from their politicians.

The SDLP, UUP and Alliance Party were all turning round quotes and pictures of the BBC debate on the social media platforms.

The DUP and Sinn Féin central accounts did not.

The UUP's Robbie Butler says he has "absolutely not" taken sides in the Israel-Gaza conflict, saying there has been "unprecedented humanitarian suffering meted out" since the attacks in Israel on 7 October.

Gavin Robinson says he doesn't think it's taking sides to condemn terrorism, referring to the actions of Hamas.

He goes on to say: "What's going on at the moment is a human tragedy. I can see very clearly there should be a ceasefire and the hostages should to be returned to their families."

Tara Mills thanks the audience and the politicians for taking part in tonight's debate.

TUV, People Before Profit and the Green Party will be on BBC Newsline to set out their pitches for next week's poll from 22:30 BST.

But stay with us here - we've more analysis and updates to come.

John Campbell
BBC News NI economics and business editor

In making the economic case for a united Ireland, Colum Eastwood said there was full employment in the Republic of Ireland.

Many economists would agree that the Republic’s unemployment rate of 4% represents "technical" full employment.

This week the ESRI, a leading Dublin-based think tank, said the Irish labour market is now "operating at full capacity, with limited potential for further growth in the absence of inward migration".

It is a similar picture in Northern Ireland where the unemployment rate is 2.2%.

Recent research by Ulster University economists suggest Northern Ireland has the ‘"tightest" labour market of any UK region.

When asked if he will visit the White House next year if President Biden is re-elected and the Israel-Gaza conflict is ongoing, Sinn Féin's Chris Hazzard says his party "will continue to go wherever we need to go to be the voice of the Palestinian people where their voice needs to be heard".