General election TV debate: Farage warns 'population crisis' is making Britain poorer (2024)

Thank you for joining me for The Telegraph’s live coverage of the first seven-party debate of the general election campaign.

My colleague Jack Maidment will be back early on Monday to guide you through the third week of the election.

Penny Mordaunt challenged Angela Rayner over Labour’s credibility on defence in a general election TV debate on Friday night.

The two women also clashed over tax and Labour’s flagship green policy: the creation of national utilities firm GB Energy.

Nigel Farage who appeared for Reform after becoming leader earlier this week challenged the other politicians on immigration and net zero policies.

The seven-way BBC debate also featured representatives from the Liberal Democrats, the Green party, the SNP and Plaid Cymru.

Daniel Martin and Nick Gutteridge look at the key moments

Reform UK’s deputy leader has said Brexit was the only other political campaign in which he has had the same “feeling” as the general election, writes Tim Sigsworth.

Dr David Bull said: “There is a feeling I’ve only felt once before and that was Brexit. I can’t really describe what’s going on.

“But the disconnect between London metropolitan elites and actually what people are saying on the streets is enormous, and this is people power actually.

“We’re going to see more and more of that, and I think when people realise that a vote for the Conservative Party is a wasted vote, then we become the main rivals, the main opposition.”

Angela Rayner and Penny Mordaunt were too “frightened” to engage directly with Nigel Farage during the BBC debate, Reform UK has said.

Dr David Bull, its deputy leader, told The Telegraph in the spin room that his party would also overtake the Conservatives in the polls by theweekend, writes Tim Sigsworth.

“I honestly think they’re frightened,” he said. “And I felt sorry for him in some ways becausehe wasn’t allowed the chance to retort and I think he could have wiped the floor with them.

“I’ve watched him over many, many years and he’s the most incredible orator, and I’ve done a lot of public speaking over the years, and I’ve never known anyone who can speak for 30 minutes on the nose with no notes. It’s an incredible feat.”

They say you should never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel, and that adage should now include never picking a fight with someone who has their own TV show, writes Gordon Rayner.

Nigel Farage, unleashed into a live debate for the first time this election, was polished, pugnacious and popular.

Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the Commons, made a decent fist of trying to keep up with him, but hamstrung by the reality of 14 years in Government, she was elbowed into second place by the charismatic Reform UK leader.

A live Telegraph online poll of who was up and who was down put Mr Farage far ahead throughout the 90-minute BBC show, with a net positivity rating more than twice as large as Ms Mordaunt’s.

The big loser on the night was Angela Rayner. Sent out with a mission to be the sensible voice in the room, she struggled to think on her feet, was skewered over her views on the nuclear deterrent and repeatedly retreated to her safe ground of “the Tories crashed the economy”.

Gordon Rayner has his debate verdict here

The Labour Party has insisted that it is concerned about immigration after Nigel Farage said every other party is not bothered about it, writes Tim Sigsworth.

Speaking in the spin room after the BBC debate, a spokesman said: “Of course [we are concerned].

“Keir said in an interview with the Sun on Sunday last week that he wants to get net migration down.

“We have to get an immigration down. We have to ensure that we’re doing a far better job of filling the vacancies that there are within the UK economy by boosting the skills of people who are here already. And that’s been something that we’ve that we’ve he’s been really consistent about.”

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Tonight’s debate set out the choice facing voters at this election. A vote for anyone other than the Conservatives means handing Keir Starmer a blank cheque.

“We saw what that would look like tonight when Angela Rayner failed to rule out Labour’s plan to raise taxes by £2,094 for every working household.

“Only Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives have a clear plan, backed by bold action, to chart a course to a more secure future for Britain.”

Chris Heaton-Harris has said Penny Mordaunt showed the Conservatives’ plan and credibility, writes Tim Sigsworth.

Asked who won the debate, the Northern Ireland Secretary told The Telegraph: “I hope the public won because I hope they have seen what at least some people stand for. I hope they’ve seen what we stand for continuing with strong policies that are projected to deliver strong economic growth by the OECD and a whole host of other people.

The BBC election debate featured a wider range of opinions than ITV’s version earlier this week, with seven parties represented.

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, and Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the Commons, stood in for their seniors in the two main parties. Nigel Farage featured for the first time as leader of Reform UK. And the smaller parties, including the SNP, Liberal Democrats, Greens and Plaid Cymru, had a podium too.

Our writers have given their verdicts on who performed best - Sherelle Jacobs argues that Farage is making the Tories look irrelevant, while Tom Harris contends that the nationalist leaders outshone their less confident counterparts.

Pat McFadden, Labour’s national campaign coordinator, said after tonight’s debate: “Penny Mordaunt used tonight’s debate to hammer Rishi Sunak three times for leaving the D-Day commemorations early, defend Liz Truss and put on record that the Conservatives have raised taxes to the highest level in seventy years.

“Angela Rayner talked about the change Labour will bring to Britain. It’s time to end the chaos, turn the page and start to rebuild with Labour.”

Penny Mordaunt has raised her hair game for the BBC election debate - quite literally, writes our Fashion Editor Tamara Abraham.

The Leader of the House of Commons’ blonde, shoulder-length hair was styled with a remarkable amount of volume for the occasion, to the extent that it has drawn some comparisons with the late Margaret Thatcher’s signature look.

In a line-up of individuals skilled at making themselves stand out, Mordaunt certainly set herself apart, and her hair will have helped achieve that.

If it seems a little ridiculous to go quite so far with the backcombing and hairspray, consider the circ*mstances: hair, like makeup, must be exaggerated for a photo shoot or television appearance. All the men participating will have likely had a little face powder applied at the very least. Then there’s the ‘drop’ factor - Mordaunt’s stylist will have styled it higher than necessary, because the hair will drop down a little over the course of the debate.

It is a look that the celebrity world has embraced too. So-called ‘Texan hair’ (where they like to say, “the higher the hair, the closer to God”) is back in style; Hannah Waddingham, Beyonce and Miley Cyrus have all championed it.

Since her participation in the King’s Coronation last year, Mordaunt has established a reputation for a polished, elegant appearance, which, let’s face it, is rare in British politics. She may face some social media ribbing for her Texan blow-dry, but it was sleek, her makeup was excellent, and the navy suit with a blue silk top, strong, if literal, messaging.

Angela Rayner accused the Conservatives of presiding over 14 years of “abstract failure, abstract failure”.

The deputy Labour leader, it turns out, meant “abject failure”.

Stephen Flynn, SNP: “The Tories are finished so the choice is simple about who you trust to put Scotland’s interests first in Westminster... Unlike the Labour Party, we will never ever cosy up to Westminster.”

Carla Denyer, Greens: “We can all see the Tories are toast, thank goodness, but we deserve better than a Labour Party that is offering more of the same. Angela says Sir Keir Starmer has changed the Labour Party - she’s right, he’s changed it into the Conservative Party.”

Rhun ap Iorwerth, Plaid Cymru: “My vision is a positive one, this isn’t as good as it gets. People across the UK feel they’re being ignored. I will make sure Wales never is.”

Nigel Farage said: “Our whole approach to crime is wrong. Low-level crime is rapidly growing, street-level crime is rapidly growing.

“The old theories about New York and how it was cleaned up is if you do all the stuff that happens at the bottom, you might tackle the more serious stuff.”

Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, said: “Our young people feel that they will be protected if they carry a knife. That’s completely wrong and we need to educate them.”

Rhun ap Iorwerth, the Plaid Cymru leader, said he was “very, very worried” and that his son had been attacked, although not with a knife. He called for greater devolution of policing, including to Wales.

Carla Denyer, the Green deputy leader, said that there should be a councillor in every school.

Daisy Cooper, the deputy Liberal Democrat leader, said stop and search “can be used in some circ*mstances” but it had to be used in a “targeted way”, to which Nigel Farage insisted the areas with high knife crime were already known.

“We’re scared of our own shadow here,” Mr Farage said.

Penny Mordaunt, the Tory Commons Leader, said violent crime was down by 44 per cent and there were 20,000 new police officers.

“If you live in a Labour area you are 40 per cent more likely to be a victim of crime. That is a shocking statistic. We need more police and we need police in communities that can follow up with people.”

The next question is from Nick, who is worried about his son about to start secondary school amid knife crime.

Carla Denyer, the Green leader, said “we all have the right to feel safe in our homes and on our streets”. Ms Denyer said “not all crime can be tackled by being tough”, speaking to the “complex” causes of knife crime and youth centres being closed.

Asked how he would tackle knife crime, Nigel Farage was applauded as he said: “Stop and search. We know the areas in which knives are most prevalent, stop and search. And of course we don’t do it, oh gosh, if this area has a high proportion of people from black and ethnic minority communities, they might call us racist. We’ve got to stop doing this, we have to completely forget the colours of people’s skins... We have to be tough.

“You can go shoplifting now, any of you. You can go shoplifting and nick £200 worth and you won’t be prosecuted. We are seeing a societal decline of law and order in this country. And frankly government and police forces have been too scared to do what needs to be done. It is yet another area of Britain that is broken and needs radical surgery.”

On climate and the economy, Penny Mordaunt, the Commons Leader, said: “Done well, one should help the other. What’s important though is that you have to do it with people, you have to ensure that people can get there.

“We are going to do that at a pace that people can afford. 2050 sounds a long way off... At the end of this Parliament, if they get in, you will not be able to buy a petrol car. If your boiler goes, you’ll have to spend tens of thousands of pounds on a heat pump.

“You heard about GB Energy, this is an energy company that your money will go into that won’t produce any energy... They’re not going to get the money in. And the final thing, if you do this too fast, all you will do is destroy our supply chain. If you do it at the pace Labour want to do it, the only country that will benefit is China.”

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, was asked repeatedly by Ms Mordaunt how much energy Great British Energy would produce. She said it would “bring clean energy to this country and give people good skilled jobs”, adding: “I ask people to look at the Tories’ record. They constantly spout these lies that we’re going to stop people’s cars, we’re going to do this, we’re going to do that, and the real reason is your 14 years have been an abstract failure. You have failed the British people and the British people can see that.”

Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, was asked about the £28 billion green U-turn.

“We’ve said we want to get to that point,” Ms Rayner said. “We can’t ignore the fact that we do have to change.

“Nigel says we do have to use oil and gas, and you’re right, but it won’t be forever. Our green prosperity plan is all about insulating your homes and having that energy security.”

Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, said Scotland’s hydrogen, wind and wave power was going to create the green economy of the future, promising a “just transition” to net zero that would protect and create new jobs.

Asked whether they would prioritise economic growth or tackling climate change, Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, said: “It depends what those policies are, and at the moment we are producing completely unrealistic climate priorities.”

He said promises to decarbonise the grid by 2030 and 2035 respectively were “not going to happen”.

“What we’re doing in this country is we’re sacrificing our growth, we’re sacrificing British manufacturing. And we’re saying to ourselves, isn’t it marvellous, we’re reducing carbon emissions more than any other western country? But we haven’t. All we’ve done is export carbon emissions when our steelworks go to India or our car manufacture moves to China or to Turkey or wherever it is. We’re living in a complete fools’ paradise on this.

“We’ve been chucking 20 per cent on people’s electricity bills now for 20 years to pay for very inefficient wind energy. What’s really happening with net zero, what’s happening with the attempt to deal with climate change, not that we can because we produce less than one per cent of the world’s carbon dioxide - and the Chinese are building 80 new coal power stations- we should not forget we need oil and gas for the next 30 years. Net zero is a bad policy and it’s bad for people.”

Daisy Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat, said: “The fact is that this Parliament has been characterised by law-breaking, by lying and by the economic illiteracy of the mini-Budget.

“And of all the things that the Conservatives have broken, the worst thing that I think people have broken is people’s hope.”

Mishal Husain was applauded when she asked Ms Cooper “do you remember going back on the tuition fees pledge?”

Ms Cooper said it was a “very difficult decision”, noting the Tories withdrew maintenance grants in 2015.

Nigel Farage said leaders were “very dull”, describing Rishi Sunak as “slippery Sunak” and Sir Keir Starmer as “Blair without the flair”, adding: “The real leader of the Labour Party’s here tonight, at least she’s got some personality.”

Mr Farage said Labour and the Tories “don’t really disagree on anything... There’s a sense we need a revolt against this system, we need an electoral system where we get some proportional representation in Britain. What we’re being offered, frankly, are two parties promising the earth and nothing much will change no matter who goes in. New politics, fresh start, we want a revolt from the British people. That’s what I’m after.”

Ms Rayner said “to be fair it’s always all about Nigel, and we’ve had this sort of clown personality before with Boris Johnson”.

She added Labour “will not promise anything we cannot fund and we have been absolutely clear, the Tories have had a record number of tax hikes on people in this country”.

Linda asks why parties promise things when they want your vote, but when they govern “nothing gets done”.

Penny Mordaunt, who was laughed at when called on to answer the question, said: “This is why the Prime Minister made the very clear pledges he did and you can measure the progress being made against them. We are making progress, we have been through some very hard times but the recovery is there. What we must ensure is that that is not choked off and we must ensure that your taxes are being cut. That is what we have been doing with National Insurance tax cuts.”

Ms Mordaunt said she was “worried about my constituents being able to afford a Labour government”, and said Labour’s net zero policy would mean “giant bills”. Mishal Husain told Ms Mordaunt personal taxes were still rising, to which the Commons Leader said: “We have had some very difficult things. We have had to spend a lot of money on things like furlough, that was the right thing to do.

“We’ve also had terrible global shocks, we have had to step in and pay people’s energy bills... You need disposable income in your pockets, you need your taxes to be cut. That’s in our DNA as Conservatives, that’s not in Labour’s DNA.”

Stephen Flynn, the Westminster leader of the SNP, said he was worried by “the silence of the Labour Party when it comes to Brexit”.

Daisy Cooper, the deputy Liberal Democrat leader, said: “Liberal Democrats fought the Conservatives every single day in coalition and we have to only look at the difference since 2015.

“I speak to hundreds of people in your situation, Suzanne. People who play by the rules, people who work hard, people who pay their taxes and they’ve got almost nothing to show for it... When they go to their use their public services. Everything feels broken. Nothing works.”

He survived everything that was thrown at him on I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! and Nigel Farage has emerged as the king of the political jungle so far tonight.

In the increasingly heated seven-way BBC election debate, he has landed blows on the Toriesover defence and immigration, while Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner has been the big loser so far.

The Reform UK leader was the first to go on the attack after others had simply set out party policy. Asked about defence policy by the son of a D-Day veteran, Ms Rayner quietly committed to the Tories’ 2.5 per cent defence spending pledge, while LibDem Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said they would increase troop numbers.

Then came Mr Farage’s turn. Rather than have a “weird concept of national service” the country should recruit more soldiers, he said, and then came the punch: Mr Sunak had “deserted” veterans by coming home early from Normandy “which is a complete and utter disgrace which shows we have an unpatriotic prime minister. It was appalling”.

With a further rhetorical flourish, Mr Farage added: “If his instinct was the same as the British people he would never have contemplated for a moment not being there for the big international ceremony. It shows how disconnected he is from the people of this country.”

Penny Mordaunt is now odds on with several bookies to lose her Portsmouth North seat, and she has an awful lot more defending to do tonight than in her 85-day stint as defence secretary.

Sporting a gravity-defying blow dry, said it was “completely wrong” for Mr Sunak to leave France early and turned on Ms Rayner, standing next to her, rather than risking a counter-attack on the Reform UK leader.

To begin with she did a good job of standing her ground. She reminded Ms Rayner she had “voted recently, along with the guy who wants to be foreign secretary and half of the Labour frontbench” to get rid of the nuclear deterrent.

“Imagine what Putin is thinking. Without credibility, we become a target. If we become a target you are less safe. It’s too late for this generation of Labour politicians, that credibility is shot. Do not vote these people in.”

Ms Rayner reverted to her safe space of accusing the Tories of “crashing the economy” but Ms Mordaunt was having none of it, unsheathing her sword of truth to jab at her foe.

“If your foe does not believe that you will use these weapons, the deterrent is gone and that’s the position you’re in,” she said. “It’s serious stuff. This is what will happen if you elect these people.”

But Ms Mordaunt struggled badly on the question of immigration. Where Mr Farage mocked the others for their policies of “Open doors! Everyone come! Benefits for everybody!” Ms Mordaunt wandered off topic and had to be reminded of the question by moderator Mishal Husain.

Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, said energy bills had been “too expensive because we load money, we load tax onto your taxes to give the wind farms money... The population has made housing, whether you buy them or rents, too expensive”.

“The big one’s taxes. Even during Tony Blair’s time the top rate of tax was 40p in this country, and it was paid by one million people in this country. By 2029, eight million people will be paying the 40p rate of tax... That’s why life is so tough.

“To hear Penny Mordaunt, whose Government have put the tax burden up to the highest in this country since 1948, pretending they’re a tax-cutting party, frankly, it is dishonesty on a breathtaking scale.”

Penny Mordaunt, the Commons Leader, insisted the Tories had “supported people through some very difficult times, and we are starting to see the recovery... The only way to keep the economy growing is to give you more money in your pockets.”

Ms Mordaunt promised “more in our manifesto next week” on tax cuts, adding: “We have got to cut people’s taxes and we have got to alleviate burdens on businesse. Keir Starmer confirmed this earlier this week, they are going to put up your taxes by £2,000.”

Angela Rayner interjected “that is a lie”, saying the Government had raised taxes to a 70-year record, to which Ms Mordaunt said: “We have, and we’ve hated putting up taxes. We have now been cutting taxes, we will continue to cut taxes, the country can’t afford it. £2,000!”

Mishal Husain said the £2,000 figure had been criticised by the UK statistic watchdog.

Ms Rayner said to Ms Mordaunt: “Twenty-six separate tax rises in the last Parliament. We’ve absolutely guaranteed we will not raise taxes for working people.”

The next question is from audience member Suzanne, who says her family is “working to survive not live, that isn’t sustainable”.

Rhun ap Iorwerth, the Plaid Cymru leader, said Labour and the Conservatives were “converging on public spending”, insisting “change has to mean something”.

Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, replied: “There’s been no vote cast at this general election and Suzanne I absolutely understand what you’re saying. The cost of living, you can’t escape what’s happened and Liz Truss crashed the economy which sent mortgages going sky-high. We’ve been at the mercy of the global energy prices and therefore energy prices have gone significantly high for people... Labour’s first plan is to secure the economy. We will never go fast and loose with the public finances, because it’s working people who are paying the price for that.”

Ms Rayner went on to talk about Great British Energy and Labour’s plan for an expanded windfall tax.

“That is real change, that’s how we will deliver an economy that works for working people and the Tories should never be allowed to forget that the reason we’re in the cost-of-living crisis now is they crashed the economy.”

Daisy Cooper, the deputy Liberal Democrat leader, said the Conservatives “have made a complete mess both of our migration system, but also the asylum system”.

“We have the worst of both worlds. We have people who are desperate fleeing persecution arriving on small boats, at the same time we have our NHS, our social care, we have hospitality and engineering, none of them can recruit the staff they need with the skills to boost our economy.”

Ms Cooper said care workers should have a higher minimum wage and progression in the work force, and invite people from other countries when needed to fill skills gaps.

Carla Denyer, the deputy Green leader, said Nigel Farage was “cold-hearted” to not want immigrants to bring dependents.

“When it’s hard to get an affordable home, when it’s home to access public services like a GP, when the roads are poorly-maintained, I can absolutely understand Lorenzo why you’re angry about these things. I am too. But I am clear that the reason for these services being run into the ground, it is not people coming here... Migration’s been a good thing for this country.”

Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, said: “The problems with housing, the roads and GPs and public services is the decimation that the Tories have done to our public services.

“We’ve said we need a new Border Command, we said we would scrap the Rwanda scheme, we would put that into a Border Force Command which would smash the gangs. And 14 years of the Conservatives, they’re relying on overseas to fill our skills shortages because we haven’t got an industrial and skills strategy. Labour will put one in place.

“People come to our country and they’re propping up many of our services because we haven’t trained the people to do that.”

Penny Mordaunt, the Commons Leader, jibed: “Keir Starmer has spent most of his life campaigning for free movement. These guys are not going to control immigration”

Rhun ap Iorwerth, the Plaid Cymru leader, said Labour “want to talk the language of the Tories and increasingly Nigel Farage”.

Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the Commons, said it is “definitely going to be a cost-of-living election, and one thing we can do to ask the gentleman who asked the question is making sure you keep more of your money”.

Nigel Farage interjected “is that the question?”, before she was reminded of Lorenzo’s question about immigration.

“The best way to do this is to get Parliament, your Parliament, elected by you to have an annual cap. What that will do is take into account the economic needs, the needs of the workforce but also the pressures that immigration puts on communities as the question made very clear. That will be informed by experts but it will be Parliament that decides and because the numbers are too high, they will come down. That is a clear plan, a guarantee, that is a logical next step.”

Ms Mordaunt said Labour “have no plan, they have no target, they have no clue, they haven’t done any of the work on the workforce... Controlled numbers and a cap under us, or uncontrolled immigration under the Labour Party.”

Rhun ap Iorwerth, the Plaid Cymru leader, accused Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, of “bigotry”.

“Is that the best you can do?” Mr Farage said. “Benefits for everybody, lovely!”

Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform, said the six other parties had been “wholly unconcerned” with immigration.

“For 50 years net migration into Britain was 30,000 to 40,000 a year, then Tony Blair gets in, decides to open the doors... Then we get the Conservatives, elected in 2010, 2015, 2017 telling us they’ll reduce net migration to hundreds of thousands a year, 4.3 million the Conservatives have let in. Most of those that come in are not economically productive members of our economy, most of them are dependents.

Lorenzo in Essex said he was struggling to find a house, saying immigration was “partly to blame” and asking what parties would do about it.

Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, said: “I accept the premise of what you’re saying in respect of your area. But let me say a few home truths, particularly to some members of this panel, migration is absolutely essential to our public services, it’s absolutely essential to our businesses, and it’s absolutely essential to our economic growth. And what we need to do is end the demonisation of migration.”

He added ofScotland: “We need migrants. This race to the bottom on migration driven by Nigel Farage, followed by the Conservative Party and hotly chased by the Labour Party does not serve Scotland’s interests and it does not serve your interests either. So rise up against it.”

Mr Flynn accused Mr Farage of the “demonisation of migration”, followed by Labour and the Tories, adding: “I think any voter in Scotland who wants to impact our economy, impact our NHS should vote for the parties that want to cut migration... This is a consequence of being led down the garden path by the Right-wing in British politics.”

Carla Denyer, a co-leader of the Green Party, said the UK tax system was “unbelievably unfair”.

“The Greens would make some adjustments to that system so that those with the broadest systems can most easily afford to pay quite a modest amount, and that will provide a moderate amount of funding for decent public services that benefit all of us.”

Rhun ap Iorwerth, the Plaid Cymru leader, said Wales had experienced a “double whammy” of austerity and a “very-badly managed NHS by Labour”, to which Mishal Husain points out there was a Labour-Plaid Cymru agreement until recently.

Nigel Farage said the NHS model “isn’t working”, adding: “It’s all money, I’m going to spend more money, you’re going to spend more money, it doesn’t work... We’re now spending over 11 per cent of the national cake on the NHS.

“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... Let’s change the model. There are countries right next door to us, there’s one country, France, it’s rather like, those who can afford it through their taxes pay into an insurance scheme, and it’s managed as though it was a private company. And their returns on stroke, health and cancer are better than ours for exactly the same reason.”

Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, claimed Mr Farage “doesn’t believe in the NHS”.

Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, said the “decimation” of social care services “has cost more in the NHS”, promising 40,000 new appointments through the non-dom status being closed.

Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, cited the Institute for Fiscal Studies setting out a “conspiracy of silence” around an £18bn black hole in the public curse, to which Ms Rayner said she would look at “efficiencies” and “technologies that will come in”. An incredulous Mr Flynn chimed in: “£18bn of efficiencies, Angela? Come on.”

Ms Rayner said: “All roads lead to the Tories and what they’ve done to our public services.”

Penny Mordaunt, the Commons Leader, said there was an increase in NHS workload of about 43 per cent, “the legacy of the pandemic that we have to deal with... We have to keep the budget strong, you need a strong economy to do that and public spending is going to go up, it will go up and for the NHS very substantially.

“The only people on this platform who have ever cut the NHS are Labour in Wales, they cut it four times. The second thing we also need to do is increase the number of healthcare professionals we have.”

Ms Mordaunt said healthcare professionals would leave the service because of “Labour’s plans to tax pensions”, to which Ms Rayner replied to audience applause: “Penny, that’s rubbish and you’ve just said that we just need a strong economy. You backed Liz Truss and crashed our economy. You made people like me redundant when we were in the home care service.”

Ms Mordaunt said: “Even Liz Truss on her worst days still recognised that we need a nuclear deterrent in this country”

Mr Farage, unsurprisingly, is the first leader to go on the attack rather than simply setting out party policy.

After the parties drew lots to decide where each would stand, Mr Farage, ironically, was placed on the far left of the screen, as far away from Penny Mordaunt as possible.

But it didn’t take long for him to get stuck in to the Leader of the Commons after the first question from the audience was about defence.

Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner committed to the Tories’ 2.5 per cent defence spending pledge, while LibDem Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said they would increase troop numbers.

Then came Mr Farage’s turn. Rather than have a “weird concept of national service” the country should recruit more soldiers, he said, and then came the attack: Mr Sunak had “deserted” veterans “which is a complete and utter disgrace which shows we have an unpatriotic prime minister. It was appalling”.

Ms Mordaunt, sporting a gravity-defying blow dry, said it was “completely wrong” for Mr Sunak to leave France early and turned on Angela Rayner, standing next to her, rather than risking a counter-attack on the Reform UK leader.

The parties are asked by an audience member whether she would graduate from a medicine degree into a fully-functioning NHS.

Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat deputy leader, said she would look to tax “really big companies” to fix public services.

Mishal Husain notes that healthcare is a devolved issue. Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, said Scotland had record funding, no strikes and “some of the best performing NHS levels in Scotland as well”, reminding the audience that “in SNP-controlled Scotland, you wouldn’t pay a single penny in tuition fees in your studies”, to the first applause of the night.

Challenged on very high wait times, Mr Flynn said: “Nobody would seek the challenges which exist in our NHS, which across these islands, primarily driven through two issues, one the backlog of Covid, two the austerity agenda which is impacting us from Westminster and has done from the last 14 years. The Tories and Labour both know they’re going to cut public sector investment to come.”

Asked how she felt when she realised Rishi Sunak left before the international event, Penny Mordaunt repeated what happened was “very wrong”.

“He’s apologised to veterans but I think he also has apologised to everyone because he was there representing everyone. What I hope is that our veterans will feel treasured... I don’t want this issue to become a political football.”

Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, interjected: “If his instinct was the same as the British people he would never have contemplated for a moment not being there for the big international ceremony. It shows how disconnected he is from the people of this country.”

Rhun ap Iorwerth, the leader of Plaid Cymru, said Mr Sunak had shown “panic” in both leaving D-Day early and coming up with a “back of a fa*g packet” plan for National Service.

Daisy Cooper, the deputy Liberal Democrat leader, said “many of us feel personally quite insulted. I started yesterday morning watching a recording made by the Royal Mint of my late grandfather where he recounts catching his best friend who fell from the top of a Sherman tank was shot in the head”.

“As he waded through the water, he recounted in his words ‘men blown to pieces, hands, legs and heads’. If he had been there yesterday, and seen the Prime Minister walk away from him, I would have found it, as I found it now, completely unforgivable.”

Rhun ap Iorwerth said the 80th anniversary of D-Day was a “sobering day”, adding: “It certainly wasn’t a day of staged photo opportunities as we saw from Nigel.”

Nigel Farage clarified that he raised £100,000 for the London Taxi Charity.

Mr Iowerth said Wales had a “proud record” of sending men and women into the Armed Forces, insisting on the need for conventional deterrence and peacekeeping.

Penny Mordaunt said Angela Rayner “voted recently, along with the guy who wants to be foreign secretary and half of the Labour frontbench” to get rid of the nuclear deterrent.

“Imagine what Putin is thinking. Without credibility, we become a target. If we become a target you are less safe. It’s too late for this generation of Labour politicians, that credibility is shot. Do not vote these people in”

Ms Rayner replied: “Penny, you can keep pointing at me but you are the party that have cut out the Armed Forces, crashed the economy and left us in a real mess. Keir has been absolutely clear, I am absolutely clear, we will keep our nuclear deterrent and we will invest it.”

Ms Mordaunt hit back: “If your foe does not believe that you will use these weapons, the deterrent is gone and that’s the position you’re in. It’s serious stuff. This is what will happen if you elect these people.”

Ms Rayner said Britain “has become a laughing stock internationally because of your party... Keir Starmer has changed the Labour Party. My brother served in Iraq. I won’t be lectured on whether or not I’m absolutely committed to the security of our country.”

Carla Denyer of the Green Party said military cash could be spent “more effectively”, suggesting it could be reallocated to climate change in an attempt to reduce conflict. Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, said Trident cash “could be better spent on conventional defence forces”.

Nigel Farage of Reform UK says: “We’re spending less on defence than we were in the last year of a Labour government pro rata. Recruitment is catastrophic, so rather than having a weird concept of national service, where 30,000 young people would do a year, we need to 30,000 full time. Respect our veterans, including those with the average age of 100, who were deserted by the Prime Minister in Normandy yesterday which is a complete and utter disgrace which shows we have an unpatriotic prime minister. It was appalling.”

Penny Mordaunt, the Tory leader of the Commons, said: “What happened was completely wrong and the Prime Minister has rightly apologised for that, apologised to veterans but also to all of us, because he was representing all of us. I’m from Portsmouth, I’ve also been defence secretary and my wish at the end of this week is that all of our veterans feel completely treasured. And I’m hoping tonight to convince you of some of the things that are important to them.”

Asked whether she would have left D-Day early, Ms Mordaunt replied: “I didn’t go to D-Day, I think what happened was very wrong, I think the Prime Minister has apologised for that.”

The first of tonight’s questions, from Francis, is: “As we celebrate D-Day and remember those like my father, and so many others, who served this country so well, how will the parties ensure our Army is ready and our country is safe from another major conflict?”

Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, thanks all who have served in the Armed Forces “in what is a very insecure world at the moment. First of all Labour’s committed to the triple lock on the nuclear deterrent, especially in the climate they’re in... and we will continue with the upgrades. We will have a commitment to the 2.5 per cent spending of GDP, and one of the other things that is a real scandal at the moment is the Armed Forces and the accommodation they’re given.”

Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat leader, said her party is “the party of Paddy Ashdown” and said an “absolute priority” was reversing Tory troop cuts of 10,000, with an ambition to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent by the end of the next Parliament.

The questions over the next 90 minutes will come from the studio audience.

The audience has been chosen by Savanta.

After a dramatic second week of the election campaign, we will be bringing you every cough and spit of the first debate to involve all seven of Britain’s main political parties.

The debate will be live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 7.30pm.

Sir Keir Starmer is the only party leader yet to agree a date to be grilled by Nick Robinson, the BBC presenter.

Rishi Sunak, Nigel Farage, Sir Ed Davey, the SNP’s John Swinney, Plaid Cymru’s Rhun ap Iorwerth and the Green Party’s Adrian Ramsay have all agreed times but the BBC indicated no date had been fixed for the Labour Party leader.

The interviews are being billed by the BBC as Panorama Specials to be screened over the next four weeks from Monday June 10 through to Friday, June 28.

The Conservative Party’s official Twitter account branded the Labour leader “Sir Fear Starmer”.

“Sir Fear Starmer is the knight that won’t fight. He should grow a backbone and commit to debating the Prime Minister face to face,” the post said.

Charles Hymas, our Home Affairs Editor, has the story

Reform’s deputy leader Dr David Bull has said Nigel Farage will deliver a “corker” of a performance at the BBC’s election debate, writes Tim Sigsworth.

Dr Bull told The Telegraph: “I’m hopeful that Nigel will be Nigel and I’m expecting a corker.

“Seven is a lot of people and I’m speaking now with my television hat on - to control a debate of seven people is very difficult.

“But actually the British public like an underdog and if they do gang up that might play to our advantage.”

Labour has railed against Conservative “chaos” in a social media post ahead of tonight’s debate.

“Five more years of chaos, or change with Labour,” the party said. “Only Labour can deliver the change Britain needs.”

The post was shared by Angela Rayner, Sir Keir Starmer’s deputy who will be representing him tonight.

Chris Heaton-Harris has said a vote for Reform is a vote for Labour as he dismissed suggestions that Nigel Farage would steal the show at the BBC’s first election debate, writes Tim Sigsworth.

Speaking in the spin room ahead of the debate, the Northern Ireland Secretary said: “I hope he adds a bit [of unpredictability] on the audience because he is a character.

“I’m one of the Tories that has always liked Nigel Farage, I don’t see him as a negative in British politics.

“But in this particular campaign, if you vote for Nigel Farage’s party, if you vote forReform, you’re gonna get Labour. It’s a very straightforward calculation.”

Reporters and broadcasters are gradually filling up the BBC election debate spin room, writes Tim Sigsworth. There is a great array of sandwiches available, from chicken tikka wraps to salt beef rolls.

But more importantly, politicians are starting to circulate, including Reform UK’s deputy leader David Bull, Laura Trott, the Tory Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and Chris Heaton-Harris, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Mr Heaton-Harris told The Telegraph that the seven-leader debate format would suit Penny Mordaunt, who is representing the Conservatives.

“I think we’ll see the best of Penny tonight because she thrives in these environments as we saw in the Leave debates back in 2016,” he said.

“I’m quite confident that Penny will hold her own.”

The run-up to tonight’s BBC general election debate has been overshadowed by the Rishi Sunak D-Day controversy.

Mr Sunak did attend a British service in Normandy yesterday morning to mark the 80-year anniversary of D-Day, but he returned to the UK to take part in a general election interview with ITV.

This meant he missed a commemorative event with international leaders, which Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, stayed in Normandy to attend.

The Prime Minister tweeted this morning: “After the conclusion of the British event in Normandy, I returned back to the UK. On reflection, it was a mistake not to stay in France longer – and I apologise.”

Rishi Sunak was heckled this evening by a former GP during a campaign event in Wiltshire this evening.

“I am one of 2,500 GPs who are currently unemployed due to your policies,” the protester said. “What are you going to do about? 37,000 GPs will not vote Conservative because of the constructive dismissal of general practitioners that is currently occurring. You cannot employ lesser-qualified people instead of GPs. They cannot be replaced, the country is not stupid.”

She continued: “Lesser qualified people are being used to conduct consultations which are massively complex. Most people we see over the age of 40 have at least six different diseases going on at once. They cannot be coped with by half-qualified staff.”

Mr Sunak laughed when an activist interjected “most GPs spend more time on holiday than in a surgery, though”. In response to the heckler, the Prime Minister said: “Right well, so my dad was a GP but my mum was also a pharmacist. So that’s the household I grew up in, my parents dedicated themselves to primary care, I know a thing or two about it. I worked very hard in my mum’s pharmacy.

“And while we’re supporting GPs, and actually right now supporting them with investment in digital telephony to make sure that we can make sure it is easier to get access to them, we are also making it easier for people to see other primary care practitioners to get the treatments they need.

“And that’s where I will respectfully disagree with you, because I do think it is right that people can now see their pharmacist to get medicines for seven common ailments like sore throats, ailments and sinusitis. I will always support primary care as I said as I’m the son of a GP and a pharmacist.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has arrived at a football ground in Wiltshire, writes Fiona Parker.

TheMelksham and Devizesconstituency is a relatively safe one for the Tories, with Michelle Donelan, now the Science Secretary, achieving a majority of 11,288 in 2019.

Nigel Farage has trailed his appearance representing Reform at tonight’s debate on his social media, posting a “WATCH NIGEL” graphic to his X account.

Mr Farage sent shockwaves through Westminster on Monday by returning to lead the insurgent Right-wing party, succeeding Richard Tice, who has become party chairman.

Polling conducted since the former MEP came back to frontline politics shows Reform is already gaining traction at the expense of the Conservatives, with two surveys showing Reform within two percentage points of the Tories.

Tonight’s seven-way debate might be billed as the first chance to see all of the major parties head to head, but in truth what we are all likely to be watching is The Nigel Farage Show.

And on a day when Rishi Sunak has had to apologise for leaving the D-Day commemorations early, the 90-minute BBC special could resemble a firing squad for Tory representative Penny Mordaunt.

Veterans of political communications believe Ms Mordaunt will be sent out with a mission to get the argument back onto tax, but that Mr Farage and others will hammer her over leadership and defence.

Dominic Penna here, The Telegraph’s Political Correspondent, guiding you through The Telegraph’s live coverage of tonight’s seven-party debate.

Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the Commons, will be representing an embattled Conservative Party following a difficult week which has seen the return of Nigel Farage as leader of Reform UK and a storm over Rishi Sunak’s early departure from D-Day commemorations in Normandy.

Mr Farage will also be present at tonight’s debate, which starts at 7.30pm and will be broadcast on the BBC, while Angela Rayner, the deputy leader of the Labour Party, will set out the official opposition’s stall.