Speaking about immigration, Nigel Farage was also asked why he wasn't talking about the positive ways immigrants contribute to British society.

Sidharth in Derby called to say he had come to the UK from India in 2007 and worked in hospitality. He said he and his wife had paid their taxes and put back into the economy.

"How am I a liability?" Sidarth asked Farage. "There is a lot of success in migration."

Farage replied "of course we want skilled migration, but what we cannot go on doing is carry on having largescale unskilled migration at the same time as many of our own people are trapped on benefits".

Farage added that companies may want unskilled labour so they can pay as little as possible, but he claimed it's not good for the country as a whole.

According to the Migration Observatory, which provides independent data on migration in the UK, unemployed migrant workers were less likely to claim unemployment benefits, external than UK-born workers during 2022.

Is Farage right on claim about migrant dependants?published at 12:14 British Summer Time 14 June

12:14 BST 14 June

Let's return to Nigel Farage for a moment and when talking about legal migration a little earlier, Farage said “50% of those that come, don’t work they are actually dependants”.

He did not specify which time period he was talking about but this claim is not correct when you examine the latest figures for all visas issued.

In the year ending March 2024, about a third of the visas issue went to dependants.

His claim is more or less correct on the numbers for work visas though.

Out of all the work visas issued in the year ending March 2024, 48% were issued to dependants, external.

Dependants of a person on a skilled worker visa or a student visa are not entitled to benefits, external in the UK but are allowed to work.

Laura Trott, the Conservative frontbencher is also asked if her party should focus more on Reform UK, rather than Labour, given one opinion poll has showed them ahead of the Conservatives.

“The Conservative Party are fighting for every single vote in this election. And look, we’re only halfway through, right? Things can change," she says.

“But the poll is a stark warning," she adds, saying if it was replicated on election day it would give Labour leader Keir Starmer "huge and unchecked power" to increase taxes.

“A vote for anyone other than Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives is a vote for Keir Starmer as prime minister," she says.

Image source, PA Media

We can bring you an update now from Chief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott, who has been giving a news conference in London attacking Labour's plans.

She says "what’s most important about Labour’s manifesto is what is not in it", and claims Labour has “deliberately failed to rule out 18 potential tax rises”.

“It’s a tax trap manifesto from a Labour Party that has tax rises coded into its DNA," she says.

She puts a lot of emphasis on capital gains tax, claiming Labour is "secretly planning to put capital gains tax on your primary residence”.

Later in the press conference, its put to her by a reporter that her own party's calculations show the tax burden higher in 2028/29 than now.

Trott says Covid and the war in Ukraine meant they have had to take "really difficult decisions", but says there is clear choice at the election about "who is going to be cutting taxes and who is going to put them up".

Labour has repeatedly said it will not raise taxes on "working people" and that there is nothing in their manifesto that means they will have to raise capital gains tax.

You can see the BBC's analysis of Labour's key policies here.

What has happened to migration under the Conservatives?published at 11:47 British Summer Time 14 June

11:47 BST 14 June

A little earlier, Nigel Farage spoke about how high legal net migration has been under the Conservatives.

Net migration is the number of people coming into the country planning to stay for at least a year, minus the number of people leaving for at least a year.

It reached a record high of 764,000 in 2022 and fell back slightly to 685,000 last year.

The figure started rising in 1997 and, although David Cameron promised before the 2010 election that it would fall back to the “tens of thousands” – a pledge reiterated by Theresa May - this clearly did not happen.

Net migration did fall considerably during the pandemic before rising to record levels.

Image source, .

Vicki Young
Deputy Political Editor, at the G7 summit

Image source, Number 10

Rishi Sunak gave no indication of a change in campaign strategy when he spoke to journalists off camera this morning.

He hasn’t repeated his Defence Secretary’s warning of a “super-majority” for Labour but he clearly wants potential Reform voters to focus on that and ignore the temptation of a vote for Nigel Farage.

His demeanour was surprisingly upbeat as he insisted he was still fighting for every vote. With just under three weeks still to go he seems to be pinning his hopes on the manifesto, hoping voters will focus on policy rather than personality.

Nadia Ragozhina
Live page editor

For the last couple of hours we've been hearing from Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, and Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth, who have been answering questions from voters on Radio 5 Live.

We've heard them speak about climate change and Brexit, NHS dentistry and the cost-of-living crisis - you can find some of the questions and answers if you scroll down on this page. We've also picked over some of their claims with BBC Verify.

And we have more to come - in a few moments we'll be taking a look at some of the other statements made by both leaders.

We're also listening to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Laura Trott, who is giving a press conference now. We'll bring you the key lines.

Wendy has called in to Nicky Campbell's show on BBC Radio 5 Live to ask Rhun ap Iorwerth why his party wants to rejoin the EU when it cost a lot of money to leave.

He says it's costing a "heck of a lot of money being out" of the EU and believes Wales would be "best served" being in the EU.

Wendy says Brexit was important to her because she was concerned about the number of refugees coming into the country.

Ap Iorwerth says we need to listen to people with concerns about the way immigration is putting pressure on public services.

The Plaid Cymru leader adds that it gives him "an immense amount of pride" to know Wales has helped those fleeing Ukraine and Afghanistan.

On economic migrants, he says Wales needs to persuade more people to come to Wales to help certain parts of the economy, such as the health sector.

He says those who do no meet the threshold for staying in the UK need to be "sent home".

Image source, PA Media

We've just heard Plaid Cymru leader talking about the problems faced by NHS dentistry.

This is an issue that's come up several times during this election campaign, and Emma, from the South Hams in Devon, used Your Voice, Your Vote to suggest the BBC looked into the state of the sector.

She says she has been without an NHS dentist for six months after the one she had used since childhood withdrew NHS provision.

Figures from the British Dental Association (BDA) last year showed nearly 60% of dentists in south-west England were looking to reduce their NHS commitments.

So what are the political parties offering?

The present government’s long-awaited Dental Recovery Plan, published earlier this year, stopped short of the fundamental reform for the contract that failed to pay dentists properly for the NHS work they did.

Labour has pledged to reform the national dental contract and provide an extra 700,000 urgent dental appointments.

Liberal Democrat policy is to reform the dental contract and increase funding for the NHS dental contract, plus increase the number of dental training places in the UK.

You can read more here.

BBC Radio 5 Live's Nicky Campbell asks Rhun ap Iorwerth if he dreams in Welsh or English. Ap Iorwerth says Welsh is his first language and that he does everything in it.

He adds that being fluent in Welsh and English means a lot to him.

"Another door is opened to another world when you're able to think and converse and communicate in another language," he says on being bilingual.

"I don't think being able to speak both languages should be the preserve of people who are lucky enough to have Welsh as a first language."

Ap Iorwerth says Wales's education system needs strengthening so everyone in Wales has the right to have those bilingual skills.

Now a question from Jason in Wales, who asks what policies the party has in place to ensure people have access to dental treatment.

Ap Iorwerth says dentistry is part of the NHS that's struggling the most, adding that he’s also found himself without a dentist.

Though he’s seeking treatment from a private dentist, many others can’t afford to do the same, Ap Iorwerth says.

He adds that we must properly resource the NHS and there’s a need to open a new dental school in Wales, as there’s only one at the moment, to increase the workforce.

Jason shares that he has to travel 40 miles to Liverpool to get treatment from an NHS dentist.

Ap Iorwerth insists that there’s also a need to ensure “we don’t let privatisation creep into the NHS”.

“I scratch my head sometimes about how we allowed ourselves to get to this stage where essentially now, realistically, dental treatment isn't an NHS service,” he says.

Nicky asks Rhun ap Iorwerth why independence hasn't been as popular in Wales as it has been in Scotland.

"I would argue the move is there," the Plaid Cymru says, saying the situation is similar to Scotland in "the years running up to" the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

He says "most people aren't convinced yet", but adds the issues that people say they care about the most - such as health and education - can be better addressed through independence, saying he doesn't want it "for its own sake".

On the EU, he says the UK should join the customs union and single market.

An independent Wales could make its own mind up about its relationship with the EU, he says, adding he firmly believes "we should be building the closest possible relationship with the European Union".

Lesley has called into BBC Radio 5 Live to ask Rhun ap Iorwerth how his party could extend its appeal outside of its heartland to be a viable opposition to Labour.

Ap Iorwerth says Plaid Cymru will do this by showing it's "serious about our message being a Wales-wide one".

"I have been to every single constituency in Wales during the course of this campaign because I want people to see I believe my message is relevant to all parts of Wales."

The Plaid Cymru leader adds that his party has to show people it "talk[s] their language" on health, energy, infrastructure and helping communities.

Lesley says it feels like she's living in a Labour autocracy and wants more people to hear the opposition's voice.

Ap Iorwerth says he's not going to talk down Labour for winning elections for decades in Wales, but says Labour doesn't have the "political renewal" or "refreshing of ideas that we need".

Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth is now speaking to Nicky Campbell on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Campbell asks him about Farage's comments on Net Zero causing "massive self-harm" to people's energy and fuel bills.

Ap Iorwerth says this is one of the "worst elements of the culture war", adding that that there's "self-harm" in not addressing the environmental catastrophe.

He mentions a proposal in Wales to close down some blast furnaces and switch to recycling steel, saying that we need to focus on a "just transition" which means looking after the workforce and putting investment into switching over to greener ways of producing steel.

We're now hearing from Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth, who is taking questions from callers to BBC Radio 5 Live's Nicky Campbell show.

We'll bring you what he has to say to voters on this page, and you can also watch the show live by clicking the Play button above.

Nicky Campbell asks Nigel Farage when was the last time he cried.

"I think quite a long time... I hope quite a long time ago," Farage says, adding with a laugh that it was probably "going into the jungle" when he went on reality TV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here last year.

Back on politics, and a final question for Farage before he goes, Nicky says one pollster suggested to him that Reform UK would win a maximum of four seats in the election. What use would that be? the presenter asks.

Farage says: "I have no idea. I tell you what, we are going up by one percentage point a day. We have got momentum behind us. Who knows, we might surprise everybody, including myself."

Nicky Campbell continues to press Farage on climate change.

Farage says the government's net zero strategy is deindustrialising the UK.

Net zero means a country takes as much carbon dioxide and other gasses out of the atmosphere as it puts in.

"I'm arguing the impact that we are doing, which is an enormous act of economic self-harm," Farage says again.

"We're irrelevant .. what we've done hasn't benefitted the planet at all."

Campbell pushes Farage, saying the UK is a global leader in creating technology to help with net zero and climate change.

Farage says countries like China, India, and Indonesia are still mining coal and building power stations, adding that "they're laughing at us".

The UK has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

Another caller asks Farage how he would help the country tackle the "climate emergency".

"We should not be committing an act of mindless self-harm," Farage says, adding oil, gas and steel will still be used up until at least 2050, "hopefully in diminishing quantities, hopefully, maybe, maybe not".

He says it's an act of self-harm to "deindustrialise, to put massive bills on the poor, when it doesn't benefit global CO2 emissions at all", adding he's pro-nuclear as "perhaps the best thing we can do" to reduce carbon emissions.

"Let's not commit an act of self-harm," Farage adds.

The caller responds, saying it would be an act of self-harm to do nothing, noting it will be a challenge, but one that has to be faced.

The Climate Change Committee, which advises the government on tackling climate change has estimated , externalthat the cost of achieving net zero will be less than 1% of GDP, while the government independent spending watchdog – the Office for Budget Responsibility – has said , externalthat, “the costs of failing to get climate change under control would be much larger than those of bringing emissions down to net zero”.

Dani in Liverpool, who is transgender, asks Farage how he would interact with transgender people on a health level if he was in the opposition.

Farage says "people should be allowed to be what they want to be", but adds that "the idea that a male who's gone through male puberty should be able to compete in a swimming event as a woman, then I'd say that shouldn't happen".

He goes on to say that we should equally respect the rights of women for women-only spaces.

Dani asks him again to answer from a purely health perspective, saying that many transgender people have to wait years and years just to be seen by the clinic.

Farage says that's a "much broader question" about what we're getting for the money we're putting into the health service and why waiting times have gone up.

Farage's claim fact checked: No evidence of widespread voter fraud in the UKpublished at 09:55 British Summer Time 14 June

09:55 BST 14 June

In our previous post, we reported Nigel Farage claiming on BBC's 5 Live that "any country that has a large postal ballot will be always be open to fraud and intimidation and it happens in this country [UK] all the time”.

There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the UK.

The Electoral Commission, external said: “Of the 1,462 cases of alleged electoral fraud reported to police between 2019 and 2023, 11 led to convictions and the police issued four cautions.”

Of the convictions at the last general election in 2019, external, one of them involved postal ballots.

The Electoral Commission says: “The UK has low levels of proven electoral fraud. There remains no evidence of large-scale electoral fraud in 2019.”