Thanks for following today's coverage as the official five-week election campaign period began. As ever, it was a fairly busy one. Here are the highlights:

• In an exclusive interview with BBC News, former Conservative MP Mark Logan said he will back Labour at the next general election, saying the party could "bring back optimism into British life"
• The row continued over whether Diane Abbott will be allowed to run as a Labour candidate, with the party's deputy leader Angela Rayner saying she didn't see any reason why the veteran MP couldn't stand for Labour
• Abbott said yesterday that she'd been banned from doing so, but Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said today that "no final decision" had been taken
• The Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dems all ruled out increasing VAT after the general election
• Both Labour and the Tories said they will keep income tax thresholds frozen until 2028 if they win the general election, meaning taxes will rise for many
• Rishi Sunak was asked by a man whose mother died during the pandemic how the public can trust him considering he was fined as part of the partygate scandal
• Labour launched its Welsh campaign, while the Green Party of England and Wales and Plaid Cymru also held campaign launch events

You can read all of our political stories and analysis, here. See you tomorrow for more updates.

As we've reported, Question Time was on earlier this evening, and one question put to shadow health secretary Wes Streeting was about his party's proposal to end tax exemptions for private schools.

Streeting said there were "difficult choices" to be made, but that Labour made "no apology" for prioritising state schools that educate the majority of children, above private schools that educate a much smaller number.

While Conservative Schools Minister Damian Hinds said Labour's policy would "only possibly raise a small amount of money" and that it could put "extra strain" on state schools.

You can watch that clip below.

Starmer left-wing purge row is not dying downpublished at 22:26 British Summer Time 30 May

22:26 BST 30 May

Chris Mason
Political editor

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of carrying out a purge of left-wing candidates ahead of the selection deadline for the general election.

The Labour leader denies this but some in his party don't believe him.

“This factional, vindictive behaviour is designed to humiliate socialist candidates as well as block them.”

These are the words of Beth Winter, external – who was, until Wednesday, a Labour MP and is standing down.

Labour want to talk about anti-social behaviour today, but they are themselves having a very public slanging match that is not exactly neighbourly.

Let me give you four names: Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott, Faiza Shaheen and Lloyd Russell-Moyle.

Winter is furious at what is happening to Abbott and Shaheen.

Corbyn and Russell Moyle won’t be running as Labour candidates, and right now it looks like Abbott and Shaheen won’t be either.

Read Chris' full piece on the BBC News website here.

Image source, bbc

Adam, Chris and Laura are joined by Jo Coburn, Politics Live presenter, to discuss Chris’ interview with former Conservative MP Mark Logan who’s now endorsing Labour, and the ongoing argument within the Labour party about Diane Abbott standing as a Labour candidate.

They also discuss Rishi Sunak handling a question from a member of the public about partygate.

• Listen now, and every day, on BBC Sounds

Slight signs of fractures emerging in Labour's controlpublished at 22:04 British Summer Time 30 May

22:04 BST 30 May

Joe Pike
Political Investigations Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Now the police investigation into her housing arrangements is over, Angela Rayner is reasserting her position at the top of her party.

As Labour’s directly elected deputy leader, she has her own mandate from members.

Today’s intervention isn’t just a chance to remind her colleagues of that, but to potentially change how Keir Starmer handles Diane Abbott’s future.

Although the Labour leader has heaped praise on Abbott today, the party’s 13-month investigation into her conduct and the lack of a resolution over her candidacy does not point to them wanting her to remain in Parliament.

The discipline and control that has been a striking aspect of the Starmer project is now showing slight signs of fractures.

What started as a story about one veteran politician has shifted into a wider narrative of a party splits.

And it gives us a taste of the dynamics of a Starmer-Rayner relationship if they were to reach government.

Party leaders were out and about on the campaign trail again today. Here's a selection of images from today's events.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Jessica Parker
Political correspondent, reporting from Buckinghamshire

The mood and theme around a campaign can change very quickly.

Earlier today Rishi Sunak arrived at a factory in Buckinghamshire looking relaxed as the Labour row about Diane Abbott continued to dominate headlines.

But the prime minister suddenly found himself confronted with a difficult audience question - by a man who had lost his mother in the pandemic - about those infamous Downing Street parties.

And then the news of Mark Logan broke; a retiring former Conservative MP who’s told the BBC he is switching his support to Labour.

At the final public event of the day, we twice tried to get close to the PM to ask for a comment about Logan.

Once when Sunak was shaking hands with party supporters, and again as he left the venue - but he didn’t respond.

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

Earlier today I listened to the speeches and spoke to people at the Green Party’s election launch for England and Wales.

There was talk about the Conservative record in government, which the Green Party sees as a poor one.

But, interestingly, there was much more talk about Labour’s plans, which the Greens said were “half measures and broken pledges”.

The Greens argued they’re the only ones to offer “real hope and real change” on the cost of living, affordable housing and NHS privatisation.

The reason for that is, the Green Party know if they’re to win any seats in the general election, they have to beat Labour candidates in the seats they’re targeting.

That means convincing you – the voters – that they can offer a challenge to Sir Keir Starmer from the political left.

BBC Verify’s Ben Chu has been looking at some of the fiscal claims being made by the Conservatives and Labour - and the economic elephant in the room that the main parties are refusing to talk about.

You can listen to the latest podcast here: What the politicians aren’t telling us.

The next question from the audience focuses on legal migration, as the panel is asked: "What is the solution?"

Reform UK founder Nigel Farage says Brexit voters have been "betrayed" by the government, while the Bishop of Dover feels migration is an issue that "needs to stop being kicked about like a political football".

Labour's Wes Streeting says "in order to reduce net migration you have to invest in the skills of your own people". He says the UK has "become over-reliant" of overseas people working in the health service, before he criticises Rishi Sunak's Rwanda policy - which is designed to counter illegal migration.

Finally, Tory minister Damian Hinds says there "will always be legal migration", adding that the UK wants to welcome "the brightest and the best".

But, he admits "the numbers are too high" and "there is a firm plan from Rishi Sunak".

Net migration - the number of people coming to the UK, minus the number leaving - was 685,000 in 2023, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show, external.

Watch the moment during Question Time when Nigel Farage was asked whether the reason he's not standing in the election is down to his last seven failed attempts to become an MP.

TV presenter Piers Morgan jumped in to tell him, "you've bottled it".

• You can read more about this story here

TV presenter Piers Morgan now has his say about the state of the NHS.

Morgan says his mother had a heart attack six months ago and it gave him an insight into hospitals.

He says she was kept on a trolley in A&E for seven hours, and 35 other people were in that corridor, which he describes as "absolutely shameful" in modern Britain.

Morgan says people have told him their relatives died in that exact corridor, and as he describes the health system as "completely broken" despite the high quality of doctors and nurses.

He accuses shadow health secretary Wes Streeting of "tinkering while Rome burns" and asks him how he would "pay for this stuff" without raising taxes.

In response, Streeting says £170bn spending on the NHS is not being put to best use because it's being poured into hospitals at the expense of fixing primary care.

He says the UK is in a situation that because somebody can't get an appointment that would cost £40, they end up in A&E that costs £400.

"It's about how you spend the money," the Labour MP adds.

The next question is about the NHS - and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting is asked if it is realistic to reduce waiting lists by giving medical staff the option to work longer hours and overtime.

A junior doctor in the audience says she already works more than 48 hours a week. She asks: how would Labour find the staff?

Streeting says no NHS staff member will be compelled to work additional hours, if Labour is elected.

The junior doctor asks if people are looking for extra hours because they are not being paid enough, and notes junior doctors are due to go on strike. From 27 June, doctors will go on a five-day strike for better working conditions, in the run-up to the election.

Streeting says the fundamentals of staff conditions need to be fixed, and he is appalled junior doctors are being "forced out on strike again".

Tory minister Damian Hinds jumps in, and says asking people to work additional hours isn't going to solve the problem. Hinds says the Conservatives have delivered more staff and the party has a long-term plan for the NHS.

Image source, Reuters

Stepping away from our updates from Question Time for a moment, we can bring you Keir Starmer's reaction to former Tory MP Mark Logan's decision not to seek re-election for the party and instead join Labour.

Labour leader Starmer says: "Voters across the country are looking to Labour for change. I am pleased Mark Logan has taken the decision to vote for Labour at this upcoming general election.

"After 14 years of Tory failure, voters are returning to Labour because they can see that we are a changed party and back in service of working people. It's time to stop the chaos, turn the page and rebuild Britain."

Before taking the next question from the audience Fiona Bruce asks Damian Hinds about Tory MP Mark Logan's decision not to stand at the next general election, and support Labour.

"It is not a decision I would have made," Hinds replies.

"People make their own decisions.

"What I am focused on his the big decision on Keir Starmer and the Labour party with no plan or Rishi Sunak and a firm plan," he adds.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC earlier today, the Tory MP who represented Bolton North East, said Labour had been on a "journey" and now offered "centrist politics".

He added that the Tory party was now "unrecognisable" from the party he joined a decade ago.

Nigel Farage - the Reform UK founder who is not standing in the election - says the national service policy is not a “serious” one.

Farage says there were 100,000 people in the British army when the government came into office - but, according to him, now that number is 73,000.

Recruitment and morale is “terrible”, he says.

The next government should be encouraging 30,000 young people to “actually join the army as a profession”, he says, to build the armed forces back up.

We can now bring you shadow health secretary Wes Streeting's response to Tory MP Damian Hinds, as the panel continues to discuss Rishi Sunak's national service pledge.

As a reminder, the question was: is the idea of national service a political stunt?

Labour's Streeting says that if the national service pledge was about creating more opportunities for young people then his party could welcome it. Instead, he accused the Conservatives of cutting youth services.

"What this was really about" Streeting says, is distracting from the government's record on the NHS, the economy, and "it's anything to avoid talking about the core issues facing our country and the responsibility [the Conservative Party] bears".

"We owe this generation," he adds, noting that young people sacrificed a great deal during the pandemic.

After the introductions, the first question from the audience focuses on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's policy pledge to bring back national service - the panel is asked if it is a "political stunt".

Schools Minister Damian Hinds says it is a "brilliant idea" and will be a "modern form of national service".

Presenter Fiona Bruce pushes back citing senior staff in the military who say the policy "is nuts".

"It is important it doesn't hang on the military aspect," Hinds says, adding there would also be opportunities to volunteer in the community.

For the duration of the election campaign, Question Time will move from its usual slot to peak-time TV.

Starting this evening from Epsom in Surrey, Fiona Bruce will chair the topical debate programme.

Tonight's guests include:

• Labour's shadow health secretary Wes Streeting
• Schools Minister Damian Hinds
• Reform UK's honorary president and founder Nigel Farage
• Bishop of Dover Rose Hudson-Wilkin
• TV presenter and former newspaper editor Piers Morgan

You can watch it live on BBC One or BBC iPlayer at 20:00 BST - alternatively you can press the play button at the top of our page.

Image source, PA Media

Labour's shadow chancellor says a decision "will be made in due course about who our candidates are", and that "no decision has been made about Diane Abbott" as a row in the party over candidate selection for 4 July's general election continues.

Speaking to BBC North West Tonight, Reeves calls Abbott a "trailblazer in so many different ways" who "at the same time has come under so much attack over many years".

Reeves wouldn’t be drawn when asked whether she agreed with Angela Rayner’s comments that Abbott had not been treated fairly by some colleagues.

Abbott said she had been banned from standing as a Labour candidate - but Sir Keir Starmer insisted earlier that no decision had been made on her future.