ITV Election Debate LIVE: Nigel Farage, Penny Mordaunt and Angela Rayner to slug it out in…

First clash of the night comes as Stephen Flynn challenges Angela Rayner over social care

Mr Flynn accused Wes Streeting of ‘wanting to hold the door open to the private sector’, to which Ms Rayner shot back ‘that’s not true’.

Wes Streeting has said in order to bring the record high waiting list down that we would use up capacity in the private sector to bring waiting lists down, rather than keeping people on waiting lists for years, waiting for an operation they need, but it will always be a public service under Labour.

Nigel Farage says Labour is right to use the private sector.

All the leaders are talking about the NHS and Mr Farage says the crisis in the health service has been caused by an ‘exploding population’ as he calls for a French insurance-style system in place.

Penny Mordaunt is quick to attack Labour as she claims they are the only party to cut the NHS budget.

Angela Rayner says the NHS is ‘one of our proudest achievements’ that Labour will fix again.

Carla Denyer says the Greens will provide ‘transformative investment’ while Daisy Cooper for the Lib Dems says her party’s manifesto is about saving the NHS.

Carla Denyer, the Green leader, said people were leaving the NHS “for better pay and better conditions elsewhere”, pledging “transformative investment” in health under the Greens

Julie Etchingham starts the debate by explaining questions will be asked by audience.

Each participant will give an answer interrupted.

When everyone has spoken the debate will then take place.

The first question is from a man named Dennis from Southport who asks how the parties will restore public services.

We’re about to start the ITV debate.

The candidates are introducing themselves before the questions start.

With just minutes to go before the debate starts, we’ve had some early thoughts from the Greens.

Green Party Deputy Leader, Zack Polanski, said from the spin room:

Tonight we will see a real battle of ideas on an equal platform. And after today’s Labour manifesto launch, it’s never been clearer that people want real hope and real change – not just more of the same.

Here is Nigel Farage’s reaction to that huge poll that has dropped on the eve of the ITV election debate.

Nigel Farage teased a major announcement before he heads to the election debate… and here it is.

Reform has overtaken the Conservatives in the polls for the first time.

A YouGov survey for The Times finds Nigel Farage’s party on 19 points – one in front of the Tories.

The poll was carried out this week after Rishi Sunak launched the Conservative manifesto.

I’m sure it will be mentioned tonight!

We’re just 30 minutes from the ITV Election Debate.

Hopefully we will start to see candidates arriving soon so stick with us for live updates from throughout the debate.

Big news to bring you tonight before we look forward to the ITV debate.

Army bomb disposal experts and police are investigating a suspect device at a Conservative candidate’s office in West Sussex.

Sussex Police were pictured at the scene outside Jeremy Quin’s office in Horsham, with photos showing a bomb disposal vehicle and a fire engine on the street.

Read Katherine Lawton’s story below:

If you’re a Conservative voter…look away now.

Greg Heffer reports a new poll puts the Tories at their lowest-ever level of support with just 18 per cent of the vote three weeks out from the general election.

One of the standout moments from this morning’s Labour manifesto launch was the moment a climate heckler disrupted the Labour leader during his flagship address.

The Green New Deal Rising campaign group named the activist as 27-year-old Alice, who said in a statement: ‘I disrupted the Labour Party’s manifesto launch today because I feel so betrayed and disappointed by what the Labour Party is offering at this election.’

Sir Keir responded to the protest by saying Labour ‘gave up on being a party of protest five years ago’, before adding it now wanted to be a ‘party in power’.

Another little item from today…

Dawn Butler, a Labour candidate and former MP who is standing in the London seat of Brent Central, left social media users cringing today after she released a rap of a campaign song.

Ms Butler has released a video of herself rapping to mark the three-week countdown to the general election. She shared a clip of herself singing over a remixed version of ’21 Seconds’ by So Solid Crew.

‘We’ve got 21 days to go,’ she sings, before referencing Rishi Sunak’s D-Day blunder.

Receving a mixed reaction on social media, one wrote: ‘This is beyond embarrassing, the UK’s political class is a joke.’

Before we look ahead to tonight’s debate, let’s just remind you all of what’s happened on the election trail earlier today.

Tonight’s 90-minute debate will be moderated by ITV News presenter Julie Etchingham (pictured) who also hosted the first televised leaders clash between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer on June 4.

While some viewers praised Ms Etchingham for how she handled that debate, others slammed ITV for allowing Mr Sunak and Mr Starmer to speak over one another and accused the host of ‘failing to get a grip of’ the debate.

Throughout the election debates we have heard from our own MailOnline panel of voters.

Relive the verdict from the first multi-party debate as some felt Penny Mordaunt was ‘dealt a bad hand’ by having to represent the Conservatives after Rishi Sunak made an early exit from the D-Day commemorations in Normandy.

For the first televised multi-party debate on the BBC last Friday, an average audience of 3.2 million tuned in to watch the clash.

That was an increase from the BBC’s seven-way debate in the run-up to the 2019 general election, which attracted an average audience of 2.5 million.

During Friday’s debate, hosted by Mishal Husain, Ms Mordaunt and Ms Rayner engaged in fiery exchanges over tax, NHS waiting lists and the push for Net Zero.

Ms Mordaunt continued to repeat the Tories’ claim that Labour would raise taxes by £2,000 if elected, prompting Ms Rayner to accuse the Cabinet minister of lying.

A snap viewer poll taken after the debate placed Mr Farage as the winner. The poll, conducted by researchers More In Common, asked more than 1,000 viewers who won the debate, with 25 per cent of those surveyed opting for Mr Farage.

Our political correspondent Greg Heffer will be covering tonight’s debate for MailOnline.

He reports Tory minister Penny Mordaunt, Labour’s Angela Rayner and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage are set for another fiery clash tonight in the seven-way TV general election debate.

Mr Farage – who was judged to have won last week’s debate by viewers – risked a sexism row when he suggested the heated exchanges between the House of Commons Leader and Labour deputy represented a ‘catfight’.

Hello and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage of the ITV Election Debate featuring leaders and senior politicians from seven political parties in this year’s general election.

Tonight we will see Reform leader Nigel Farage, Conservative Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt and Labour deputy Angela Rayner face off against one another as well as representatives from the Lib Dems, SNP, Greens and Plaid Cymru.

The line-up is a carbon copy of the first televised multi-party debate on the BBC last Friday in which voters declared Nigel Farage as the winner in a snap poll.

Join us for live updates throughout the 90-minute event plus reaction afterwards.