Read our full report on the BBC election debate here:
Here are the key takeaways from the seven-way exchanges:
And John Crace’s verdict on the whole affair:
Evening summary
Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the Commons, said that Rishi Sunak was “very wrong” when he left D-day commemorations in France early. She made the comment during a seven-party debate on the BBC, which came at the end of a day when the election campaign debate was dominated by reaction to Sunak’s apology for his decision to miss an international D-day commemoration in France yesterday afternoon.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has been criticised for saying he does not support the NHS’s funding model. Speaking in the debate, he said:
We all know that whilst you can get great care, the NHS model isn’t working. You can’t get GP appointments – things we have all grown up taking for granted – and they can argue about ‘it’s all money, I’m going to spend more money, you’re going to spend more money’. It doesn’t work.
The more money we spend, the less delivery we get, which means the model is wrong, the model through which we fund health is wrong.
Farage said the UK should follow a French-style insurance model for health. Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, accused Farage of “not believing in the NHS” and wanting to privatise it.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said it was “a lie” for the Tories to say her party would raise taxes by £2,000. (See 9.37am.)
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