Emily Atkinson
Live reporter

That's it from us. It's been a slower Saturday on the campaign trail, but there was still plenty to keep us busy.

We'll be back bright and early tomorrow morning for more, but in the meantime there's plenty on offer across the BBC to keep you going:

• Catch up with the latest trends with analysis from the BBC's polling guru Sir John Curtice here
• Listen to Newscast take you through Tory warnings of a Labour "supermajority" here
• Sign up for our Election Essential newsletter to read top political analysis every weekday here
• Stream the latest news on the election on iPlayer here
• Look ahead to Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg with her latest piece here

Today's page was brought to you by Nadia Ragozhina, Ali Abbas Ahmadi and me.

It's been a slower than usual Saturday of campaigning as the UK prepares for a general election.

We are about to close this page, so here's a reminder of what's been happening today:

• Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out raising capital gains tax on the sale of primary residencies
• Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said his party would scrap the police and crime commissioners to unlock an additional £170m to bolster frontline policing to tackle a "car theft epidemic"
• Veterans' Minister Johnny Mercer said the Conservatives didn't get there "fast enough" on bringing down the number of small boat arrivals, adding that he understood voters' "frustration" on migration
• Up in Scotland, the SNP's Kate Forbes said her party would work to protect Scotland's food industries, such as salmon farms, from "botched Brexit trade deals"
• Representatives from Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party spoke to the BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning, and said that Northern Ireland's NHS needed to be reformed
• Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was off the campaign trail today, attending Trooping the Colour on a soggy morning in London

Let's return to the Labour campaign for a moment and hear from the shadow health secretary who's been speaking to the BBC about Labour's plan for the NHS.

During a visit to a hospital in Nottinghamshire earlier, Wes Streeting says that if the NHS continued to function as it has under Rishi Sunak, waiting lists "could do as high as 10 m".

For context: Waiting lists in England have fallen from their peak last September, but are still higher than when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to cut them, in January 2023.

After falling from a peak of 7.8m in September, the number rose slightly again this week.

Streeting says the last Labour government delivered the lowest waiting times and highest patient satisfaction. "We did it before, and with the country's permission, we can do it again," he adds.

The BBC's Gary O'Donoghue points out that the last Labour government increased spending on the NHS by 7% each year, and asks whether a new Labour government would do the same.

Streeting says that the public finances are in "a real state" after 14 years of Tory governments, and says that the Labour manifesto is "a fully costed and fully funded plan".

This morning, Fraser Nelson, the editor of the Spectator magazine, accused the Conservative Party of thinking it had "the licence to lie" over its tax attacks on Labour.

For context: This was in reference to the Tory campaign's repeated claim that Labour would raise taxes by £2,000 per working household if it formed the next government.

BBC Verify has analysed the Conservatives' £2,000 tax claims and concluded that they risked misleading people.

Nelson has frequently challenged the Tories' claim on social media about the tax claim.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's strange. [The Conservatives] seem to think they've got a licence to lie during election campaigns. Political adverts aren't regulated by the Advertising Standards Authority, so you can say things there that would get you prosecuted."

Sir Keir Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of "deliberately" lying about Labour's plans, adding that he would not bring in tax rises for working people.

In an interview for ITV's Tonight programme, recorded on Thursday, Rishi Sunak replied "no" when asked by presenter Paul Brand if he was "willing to lie in order to stay in power".

Image source, .

Today, in this podcast recorded live on BBC Radio 4, our Electioncast colleagues look at warnings from Defence Secretary Grant Shapps about a big Labour majority.

Adam Fleming, Laura Kuenssberg and Paddy O’Connell also look at Reform UK - one poll put the party a point ahead of the Tories for the first time.

For context: Polling ahead of the Tories doesn't mean Reform UK is about to get lots of MPs, as our Political Editor Chris Mason explains here.

• You can find the latest episode on BBC Sounds here
• Fancy pulling an all-nighter with Newscast to watch the BBC's election coverage on 4 July? Apply here

Farage's continuing presence could prove a challenge for politicianspublished at 14:37 British Summer Time 15 June

14:37 BST 15 June

Hannah Miller
Political correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Asked about the rise of Reform UK earlier today, Veterans' Minister Johnny Mercer says people are fed up of “politicians making commitments that are not fulfilled in a way that they would like to see”.

Labour would point out that it is the Conservatives who have been in power for 14 years and not fulfilling some of their commitments. Lack of trust is a problem Keir Starmer has acknowledged, promising to restore faith in politics.

But through the campaign Starmer has at times struggled to answer directly uncomfortable questions about tax - constrained by the economic realities he is likely to inherit, and the deluge of negative headlines that would inevitably ensue if he did.

Nigel Farage faces no such constraints, having never had to deliver in government. His continuing presence on the UK political scene could prove a challenge for all politicians.

Image source, PA Media

Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron has accused Reform UK leader Nigel Farage of being "intent on destroying" the Conservative Party.

In an interview with the Times, he says: “I want to be as sure as we can that we get no Reform members of parliament and the Conservative Party can move forward.”

Asked about comments Farage made to the paper, when he said Rishi Sunak “doesn’t understand our culture”, Cameron says: “You don’t have to watch sheep dog trials to hear a dog whistle."

Elsewhere, former home secretary Suella Braverman uses a Telegraph interview to restate her view that Farage could be welcomed back into the Tory fold "if he was supporting the Conservatives and wanted the Conservatives to win".

Farage has now responded, writing on X: "On the same day that Suella Braverman says she wants me in the Tory party, David Cameron is abusive about me.

"Sums them up."

Remember, you need to register to vote by Tuesday 18 June and it only takes about five minutes online.

If you can’t vote in person, then there are separate deadlines to apply for a postal vote and a proxy vote. You need to register to vote and then submit a postal vote application by 17:00 on Wednesday 19 June.

Plus, you’ll need photo ID at the polling station. If you don’t have one of the accepted forms of ID already, the deadline to apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate is Wednesday 26 June.

If you want to apply for a proxy vote (when someone votes on your behalf) the deadline is also 17:00 on Wednesday 26 June.

You can find further details on how to register to vote here.

Hannah Miller
Political correspondent

Image source, PA Media

Capital gains is a tax you pay when you sell an asset which has gone up in value.

You don’t pay it on your main home, as long as you’ve always lived there - but the Conservatives had been claiming that might change under Labour.

Today, Keir Starmer explicitly ruled it out - he said it was never the party’s policy and he can “absolutely” guarantee it won’t happen over the next parliament.

Labour have previously ruled out increasing the rates of income tax, VAT, and national insurance - but they’ve often been reluctant to respond directly on other taxes.

The Conservatives have been using it as one of their main lines of attack – you might have heard them saying that Labour is going to ‘tax your home’.

This is a clear attempt to shut that down.

Starmer rules out capital gains tax risepublished at 13:12 British Summer Time 15 June

13:12 BST 15 JuneBreaking

Gary O'Donoghue
Reporting from the Labour campaign

This visit to a hospital was all about Labour's promises on the NHS.

But after several days of being asked about whether Labour would rule out putting capital gains tax on the sale of primary residences, we finally got an answer.

Keir Starmer told us: “It was never our policy. I'm happy to rule it out.” For the whole of the next Parliament I asked? Yes, he said.

It begs the question why he and his team let the Conservatives run with this one for the past week or so; the problem now of course is that the Tories have 17 other potential taxes Labour hasn't explicitly ruled out and they will undoubtedly keep asking about them as well.

Gary O'Donoghue
Reporting from the Labour campaign

Image source, PA

I’ve never before heard a hospital ward referred to as an F1 pitstop; but that's how one of the nurses showing Sir Keir Starmer round described Bassetlaw hospital’s orthopaedic unit.

It specialises in elective procedures, but in the evenings and at weekends the operating theatre we were shown into is quiet – not enough staff to keep this shiny new facility running and bringing down those waiting lists.

That's Labour's promise: to get units like this running for longer each week, paying overtime to staff to get more procedures done.

But with NHS staff often reporting just how worn out they feel, Labour doesn't really have an answer to how it will make sure units like this one are busy all day every day.

Hannah Miller
Political correspondent

The election campaign is only halfway, but for the Conservative Party some soul-searching has already begun.

With Reform UK seeing a steady increase in their polling, there is general agreement that the failure to bring down migration more quickly is responsible for much of Nigel Farage’s appeal.

But what to do about him is less clear.

Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron, certainly no friend of Farage, has urged the party to reject his “inflammatory” rhetoric on migration, and instead adopt “robust policy and measured language.”

But earlier in the week Suella Braverman said she would be willing to “welcome” him into the party.

If the Conservatives thought leaving the EU was going to put an end to the divisive impact Farage tends to have on their party, there is a strong suggestion that may not be the case.

Image source, Reuters

Let's move away from the Lib Dems, and it's another day off the campaign trail for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

At the end of last week he was attending the G7 summit in Italy.

The PM is currently watching the Trooping the Colour parade, alongside his wife Akshata Murthy. (You can follow live updates from those events here.)

But that's not all. This afternoon, Sunak is expected to attend the Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland.

Jenny Hill
Reporting from the Lib Dem campaign

The sign read ‘No adults on the jumping pillow’ (it’s a bit like a bouncy castle without the walls) but they made an exception for the campaigning Lib Dem leader and his local candidate.

There were the inevitable quips about creating a bounce in the polls as Ed Davey and Chris Coghlan leapt and slipped about to the laughter of watching families.

He brushed off questions about Reform’s current position in the polls, saying that the Lib Dems shared no values with Nigel Farage’s movement, adding that his was the only party demanding real political change.

Davey has also been highlighting what the Lib Dems are calling a "car theft epidemic" in the UK.

His party is pledging to scrap elected police and crime commissioners (PCC) to unlock what they say will be an addition £170m to bolster frontline policing.

Speaking to the BBC, he says that "only the Liberal Democrats" are showing how frontline policing would be improved we do it "by getting rid of these PCCs".

The party's own analysis of Home Office data found 360,072 unsolved car thefts in England and Wales since the last election.

Liberal Democrat analysts claimed there was a 42% rise in unsolved car thefts between 2020 and last year - from 76,333 to 108,934.

More now from Ed Davey, this time on immigration.

He tells the BBC that there is a need to "take immigration seriously" and to "stop the boats coming across the channel".

The Lib Dem leader then accuses the Tories of having "failed miserably on all these fronts", saying they weren't prepared to work internationally, with European partners and others, to crack down on people-smuggling gangs.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has congratulated Alan Bates - the former sub-postmaster who successfully campaigned to highlight the Post Office Horizon scandal - on his knighthood.

Speaking while out on the campaign trail in Surrey, he tells the BBC that Bates "fought the system, sometimes singlehandedly, he fought it bravely, and he won".

Asked he if would apologise to sub-postmasters, Davey - who was minister responsible for the Post Office between 2010 and 2012 - says he had apologised for not meeting Bates on his request three weeks after he took office.

He adds that he was later the first minister too meet Bates, and that he put his questions to officials and the Post Office.

Davey also says he's "looking forward" to attending the Post Office inquiry on 18 July.

• You can read more on the scandal here.

Andrew Kerr
Political correspondent, BBC Scotland

A cheery Kate Forbes has been on the campaign trail for the SNP as an overall mood of despondency hangs over Scotland.

Political differences were set aside for the big game last night but - despite the result - electioneering begins again in earnest.

Forbes is the deputy first minister in the SNP-led Scottish government.

This morning she visited a huge Scottish transport hub in Larkhall, South Lanarkshire. It handles the vast majority of Scottish salmon.

The party’s ABC message has been clear in this campaign - focusing on austerity, Brexit and the cost of living.

Today was B - Brexit. Forbes railed against the UK’s departure from the EU and about the trade barriers that have gone up.

She claims only with independence could Scotland re-join the EU and that SNP MPs would work to protect the food and drink industry here and cut Brexit red tape.

More now from Johnny Mercer's interview with the BBC - this time on immigration.

Mercer acknowledges that his party “haven’t got there fast enough” on bringing down small boat arrivals, though points to the fact that the number of people arriving by small boat went down by a third last year.

For context: More recent figures suggest that the number of people arriving in small boats so far in 2024 are higher than in the previous four years.

Speaking generally about immigration, he says: “Government’s a fight, anything in government is difficult and we’re on that trajectory and you can see from the prime minister’s record over the last six to twelve months that we’re making progress.

"But I get people’s frustration, they don’t see it straightaway, I share that frustration.”

Image source, Pool

Veterans' Minister Johnny Mercer says that Reform UK is rising in the polls because people are “frustrated” with politicians.

Speaking to the BBC, he says Reform's momentum is down to "a frustration with politics right, and politicians making commitments that are not fulfilled in a way that they would like to see them fulfilled," noting immigration as one example.

Asked whether it's his party’s fault that people are frustrated after 14 years of Conservative government, Mercer says it's “everybody’s fault”, before turning to criticise the Labour Party, accusing them of “treating people with a lack of respect”.

He also adds that said a vote for Reform would lead to a Labour government and that would be “a disaster” for the country.