James Gregory

That's all for today - on a day the election campaign has largely centred around one thing: tax.

Keir Starmer accused Rishi Sunak of lying during last night's TV debate about Labour's tax plans. The Conservatives insist the prime minister was not lying about the £2,000 figure mentioned in the debate.

BBC Verify have also looked into this £2,000 figure - you can read their full analysis here.

Our live coverage will continue tomorrow, with all the latest news and analysis from our correspondents on the campaign trail.

In the meantime, you can read more about the row here.

Today's page was edited by Sam Hancock, Sophie Abdulla, Emily Atkinson, Emily McGarvey, Dulcie Lee, Malu Cursino, James Harness and me.

The writers were Seher Asaf, Thomas Mackintosh, Ben Hatton, Sean Seddon, Kathryn Armstrong and Pia Harold.

Political leaders are marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings by setting out their electoral offer to veterans and members of the armed forces.

The Conservatives say they would cut the cost of a veterans' railcard by a third and keep in place tax breaks for employers of veterans.

Labour has committed to setting up a new commissioner to speak for members of the armed forces.

Commemorations are taking place all week to pay tribute to those who took part in the D-Day landings - the military operation which began the campaign to liberate north-west Europe from Nazi occupation.

Today, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer attended an event in Portsmouth held for the 80th anniversary of the operation.

You can read more about what all the major parties intend to do here.

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

A story just breaking tonight in Scotland - where the former MP for Banff and Buchan has been told he's effectively been deselected for the general election next month.

David Duguid had been seriously ill and in hospital.

But he had intended to stand for parliament in the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency.

In the last hour, he's posted on X, external, saying he was told that the party is not putting him forward.

He adds his "recovery programme is well on schedule" and thanked NHS staff.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Conservatives says he was "unfortunately unable" to stand and they hope he will return to "frontline politics in the future".

But Mr Duguid has made it clear he was looking forward to the campaign.

The BBC News website will have a full list of candidates in the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency after nominations close on Friday.

Jordan Kenny
BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat

But there were plenty who didn't tune in last night.

Out and about in Wolverhampton earlier today, I met Jess and Adam Freeman. They’ve been trying to avoid the news of the debate. Sadly, as a journalist for BBC Newsbeat, I had to burst their bubble.

“My stepdaughter wanted to watch Love Island so I had to sacrifice watching the debate,” says Jess.

They said they planned to catch up later. When I ask what they hope to hear, Jess says she wants Starmer to "take a bit more of a stand and be a bit less middle-of-the-road".

Adam wants to see Sunak "own some of the mistakes he’s made”.

Wolverhampton was one of the cities chosen to benefit from government levelling up funding in 2022 - but Daniel Tonks tells BBC Newsbeat he can’t see much evidence of that.

“There’s nothing,” says the 30-year-old. “There’s more empty shops than there is shops open.”

He skipped the ITV leadership debate last night but says he wants to hear more about the cost of living, investing in towns and issues affecting young people.

Earlier today the BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan spent the day visiting different areas in and around Greater Manchester - including spending some time in Westhoughton which is in the constituency of Bolton West.

Florist Debbie McDonnell told Rajini that she is voting for the first time and said she caught the debate but did not make a lot of what she saw.

Debbie hasn't decided who she is going to vote for yet - but at the moment she says she is "possibly swaying" towards Labour.

"Just because everything is a mess at the moment," she says.

Across the road is Paul Rodgers who runs a cafe and also watched the debate. He said audience questions covered most of the "hot topics for now" - but he wasn't convinced by all of the answers.

"I felt it could have been hosted better, the time spent answering questions wasn't long enough," Paul adds.

"The politics of life can't just be defined by yes or no - or show the true answers or the real discussion."

Gareth Lewis
Political Editor, BBC Wales

Image source, PA Media

More now on the vote of no confidence against Wales' First Minister Vaughan Gething.

For context: The vote passed by a vote of 29 to 27 in the Senedd and followed months of scrutiny about donations to his recent campaign for the Welsh Labour leadership.

But will Gething losing this vote change the course of the general election in any way? Directly, no.

This is not going to send the 'Ming vase' Keir Starmer and team have been carefully carrying, smashing to the floor - that’s the political slang for their tactic of treading their way very carefully through the campaign as if they’re holding the proverbial.

But it might present a hurdle for them to negotiate on their way. There may be awkward questions from reporters and possibly voters, and it certainly is a new thing for opposition parties to point out about Labour on the campaign trail.

Senior UK Labour figures – Starmer included – have backed Gething publicly, and he says he won’t resign.

But might this be a hurdle Starmer at one point will prefer not to get over, but move out of the way?

Alice Evans
BBC News

Image source, ITV/PA

Many of us followed last night's TV debate between the prime minister and the Labour leader as it happened.

But one person who says she couldn't follow along live was deaf campaigner Katherine Rowley.

The debate included subtitles but not a live translation.

The broadcaster has agreed to add a British Sign Language (BSL) version of the election debate programme on its on-demand platform ITVX, following a letter from Rowley threatening legal action.

ITV says that signing on live broadcasts "involves a considerable degree of planning and additional resource".

Read the full story here.

Adam Fleming, Chris Mason and Alex Forsyth discuss Keir Starmer’s claim that Rishi Sunak lied during last night’s election TV debate - the Conservatives insist Sunak was not lying and say Labour’s plan would mean higher taxes.

Listen to today's episode here.

In the last hour, we've had a fresh statement from the Conservative Party on the claims Rishi Sunak made last night about Labour's tax plans.

For context: In their first televised debate of the election campaign, Sunak repeatedly claimed Keir Starmer would bring in "£2,000 in higher taxes for every working family in our country".

Labour disputes the figure.

In a statement, a Conservative Party spokesperson accuses the Labour leader of "throwing stones from a house made from the thinnest of glass", and says he is "a man who has broken every promise he has ever made".

"It is now for him to explain whether he has ditched his policies yet again, or intends to break his own fiscal rules," they say.

As a reminder, none of the major parties have released full manifestos yet - we're expecting that in the coming weeks.

The Tory Party spokesperson continues: "If he becomes prime minister, he won’t be able to just cry lies when presented with the reality that he needs to find £2,094 worth of tax per working household to fill his black hole."

BBC Verify have looked into this £2,000 figure, and say it risks misleading people - take a look at their full analysis here.

What is Rishi Sunak's record on channel crossings?published at 20:16 British Summer Time 5 June

20:16 BST 5 June

Image source, Reuters

The topic of immigration and channel crossings was on the agenda during Tuesday's debate between the two leaders.

Conservative minister Claire Coutinho was asked earlier today about Rishi Sunak's record on the number of small boats crossing the Channel.

“What you have seen is, in a period where Rishi Sunak has got illegal immigration crossings down by a third, the rest of Europe has seen them go up by 80%," she said.

The claim that crossings to the UK have fallen by a third is only correct if you compare the total numbers seen in 2022 with 2023.

Over that same period, while official figures from both the EU and UN suggest there was a rise in crossings to Europe, they do not suggest quite as dramatic an increase as Coutinho claimed.

UN figures for people crossing the Mediterranean to Europe put the increase at 72%. Frontex, the EU’s border agency, suggests the figure was 64%.

However, the most recent data for small boat crossings to the UK versus continental Europe shows a reversal of these trends.

Between January and the end of May this year, 10,448 people crossed the English Channel, an increase of just over a third on the same period last year.

Meanwhile, according to the UN, people crossing the Mediterranean to Europe are about 6% down in the first five months of the year compared with 2023.

Image source, Getty Images

Faiza Shaheen has announced plans to stand as an independent candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green.

In a post on X, external, she says the decision follows "hundreds of messages" from people in the community who say they have "no options left".

Shaheen quit the Labour Party following her deselection as its candidate for the constituency - after liking a series of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, that allegedly downplayed antisemitism allegations.

She said she had been "penalised for describing my experiences of Islamophobia" and claimed there was a "hierarchy of racism" in the Labour Party, adding she had "been prevented from speaking out" on issues including Palestine.

In response, a Labour spokesperson said: "We are focussed on electing a Labour government and delivering the change that people in Chingford and Woodford Green and across the country need."

There are currently seven declared candidates standing in Chingford and Woodford Green:

• Chris Brody, Green Party
• Josh Hadley, Liberal Democrats
• Yousaff Khan, Workers Party of Britain
• Paul Luggeri, Reform UK
• Faiza Shaheen, Independent
• Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Conservative Party
• Shama Tatler, Labour Party

The BBC News website will have a full list of candidates in Chingford and Woodford Green after nominations close on Friday.

Let's bring you some more from the Conservatives on Rishi Sunak's claims about Labour's tax plans.

As we have been reporting, the UK’s official statistics regulator is looking into claims by the Conservatives that families would face a £2,000 tax hike under a Labour government, following comments made by Sunak during last night's TV debate.

Richard Graham, who is standing as a Tory candidate in the upcoming election, has defended the party and challenged Labour.

He tells the BBC: "I think their calculation is online and available for everybody to look at, and if Labour has a problem with it then they should challenge those calculations and say what their figure would be."

It's worth saying the parties are yet to publish their full manifestos - but both Labour and the Conservatives have pledged not to increase the rate of income tax, National Insurance and VAT if they win the election.

Jo Coburn
Politics Live presenter

Would you use private healthcare if a loved one were on a long waiting list for surgery?

It seems like a simple enough question and one that prompted an instinctive response from both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer in last night's TV debate.

The PM admitted he would pay rather than wait - not a financially viable option for most people. The Labour leader told the debate that, no, he wouldn't go private.

I posed the same question to senior Labour figure Emily Thornberry who said she had used private healthcare.

Sitting next to her, former Conservative cabinet minister, Damian Green, commended Thornberry’s honesty but questioned her leader’s response.

“Keir Starmer was unconvincing." In other words, he didn't quite believe the Labour leader would leave a loved one languishing on a long waiting NHS list rather than pay to go private if he could afford to.

Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff, also on the show, felt the Labour leader's answer was sincere and came across as authentic.

In an election where the two main parties are accused of being two sides of the same coin, last night’s exchange was a rare moment of difference between the two leaders that perhaps revealed some light in the heat of the campaign.

You can watch the latest episode of Politics Live here.

Jessica Parker and Joe Pike
Political correspondents

Image source, Reuters

Let's bring you some news from the Tory camp now, as Conservative chairman Richard Holden looks set to become the party's candidate in Essex's Basildon and Billericay constituency - a decision which has triggered a local row.

Two local Tory officials told the BBC that Holden was the only candidate offered by the national party to represent the constituency - with one saying it was a "slap in the face" for local members.

Holden has represented North West Durham, nearly 300 miles further north, since 2019.

But his seat is being abolished as part of the review of UK seat boundaries, meaning he had to find another one.

You can read more on this story here.

Damian Grammaticas
Political correspondent

The BBC managed to catch up with Ed Davey while he was out campaigning in Hampshire today.

Asked about Rishi Sunak's comments on Labour and taxes made in the debate last night, the Liberal Democrat leader accused the prime minister of “essentially lying to people”.

“I think people are pretty turned off by it," he said.

“I think... they feel a bit disillusioned when people see the Prime Minister or Boris Johnson essentially lying to people. It just is not good enough.”

He also criticised Sunak’s own record on tax, saying: “It’s a bit rich from the Conservatives given their track record and what’s in their books. They are the tax rising experts.

“Rishi Sunak knows a lot about tax because he has increased taxes on people more than any prime minister in history.

“And what I thought was missing from the debate yesterday, and I’m surprised Keir Starmer didn’t say this, was that the Conservatives are going into the next election promising to put up tax.

"They’re promising to freeze the income tax allowance to hit people on low incomes for most of the next parliament.”

• A reminder, the Conservatives have not distanced themselves from the £2,000 figure Sunak claimed Labour would increase taxes by. Sunak has himself repeated the figure on social media today.

Damian Grammaticas
Political correspondent

Image source, Pool

Ed Davey’s afternoon activity today was some rock and roll with a room full of retirees.

The Liberal Democrat leader was seated along with a dozen or so care home residents each, a couple of drumsticks in hand, beating out the rhythm to Queen’s We Will Rock You.

Perhaps to keep the noise levels down to something manageable, they weren’t banging real drums but giant silver exercise balls made of rubber.

Having a ball to beat didn’t stop Davey having a ball, so to speak - he was enjoying himself immensely.

A Lib Dem television ad featuring their leader talking about his own experience as a carer begins airing tonight.

It’s filmed in Davey's family home as he makes breakfast for his severely disabled son John, and later follows him as he returns to the house where, as a teenager, he cared for his mother who was dying of cancer.

It’s deliberately highly personal and intimate while also seeking to highlight the Lib Dem’s policy focus on reforming the care system in England.

Amid all the furore over the televised debate between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer, this is what the Lib Dems hope will make them stand out - being relaxed, up-close with their leader, focussing on issues in ways that seek to connect with the daily experiences of families across the country.

And they think it’s having an impact.

Chris Mason
Political editor

There are two key questions tonight: How memorable does this dubious Conservative claim become, and is it believed?

Today reminds me of all those rows about the claim on the side of the Vote Leave bus in the EU referendum – suggesting the UK sent the European Union £350m a week. That number was factually wrong, but there was an almighty argument about it, which made it incredibly prominent.

To be transparent, there is a journalistic dilemma here. To report this is to give it prominence. To ignore it would be an active decision too.

In my judgement, it would be odd for me to walk past the political row of the day, but it is important to reflect it in a rounded way that attempts to unpick the claims – so you can come to your own view about what is happening.

The Tory claim is contentious, misleading but also prominent. How much does £2,000 stick in your mind, prodding away at any fears a Labour government might crank up your taxes?

And how much do the attempts to dismiss it as “garbage” by Labour undermine the trust and credibility of the Conservatives?

Image source, EPA

Let's bring you some news which broke a short while ago.

A woman has been charged after a banana milkshake was thrown over Reform UK's new leader, Nigel Farage.

The drink was thrown at Farage yesterday afternoon while he was leaving a pub in Clacton - where he is running to become MP.

Victoria Thomas Bowen, 25, will appear at Colchester Magistrates' Court on Tuesday 2 July to answer charges of assault by beating and criminal damage, Essex Police says.

You can read the full story here.

Image source, PA Media

Wales's First Minister Vaughan Gething has lost the vote of no confidence in the Senedd after months of scrutiny about donations to his recent leadership campaign.

The vote passed 29 to 27.

The result is not binding on Gething and does not compel him to resign as Welsh labour leader, but it puts him in a very difficult political position.

Earlier, he wiped away tears in a passionate debate before striking a defiant tone, saying he would "continue to put Wales first, first in thought, deed and ambition, as I serve and lead my country."

Opposition parties said his judgement had been called into question and called it a grave day.

We'll have all the reaction and analysis to this in our live page here.

Get your diaries out. Fresh off the back of the first leader's debate on ITV in Salford last night, Sky News says Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer will take part in a "leaders' special" next week.

The Battle For Number 10 will air on Wednesday 12 June - half way through the election campaign - from Grimsby.

Both leaders will face an in-depth interview before answering questions from the audience.

Before then, on Friday, the BBC will be hosting the first debate featuring representatives of the seven biggest parties in Great Britain.

A reminder, Sunak and Starmer will also go head-to-head in a debate on the BBC on 26 June - set to be the last debate of the election campaign.

Read more about the upcoming debates here.