Key points
- Reform launching 'contract' - watch and follow live
- 'Our contract with you': Reform unveils policy document
- Bulletin:The main things you need to know this lunchtime
- Reform candidate resigns over previous support for BNP
- Minister admits Tory election win 'not the most likely outcome'
- Labour signal Brexit deal could be revised | Tories take aim at energy policy
- Warning that250,000 children hit by two-child benefit cap next year
- Live reporting by Faith Ridlerand Bhvishya Patel
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'Our contract with you': Farage launches Reform manifesto
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is on his feet in south Wales, where he is launching his party's "contract to the British people" - in essence, their manifesto.
The document runs to 25 pages - compared to 133 published by Labour.
Mr Farage begins by saying simply: "Guess who's back - back again!"
He says he didn't for "one moment" think he would be back running a party - but decided to do so because "Britain is broken".
"There is a lack of leadership", the Reform UK leader says.
We'll update this post with the key election pledges made by Mr Farage...
- The document contains five core pledges - and the first two focus heavily on immigration. Reform UK pledges to freeze "all non-essential immigration" which it claims will "boost wages, protect public services, end the housing crisis and cut crime";
- Reform claims it would "stop the boats" in its first 100 days with a four-point plan that would involve leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), with zero illegal immigrants being resettled in the UK, a new government department for immigration, and migrants crossing the channel in small boats being returned to France;
- The remaining three core pledges ask voters to "imagine no NHS waiting lists"; "imagine good wages for a hard day's work" and "imagine affordable, stable energy bills";
- A raft of tax cuts are also promised, including raising the minimum threshold of income tax to £20,000 a year, abolishing stamp duty, and abolishing inheritance tax for all estates under £2m;
- Reform plans to fund these tax cuts by raising £40bn from reducing the interest paid on Bank of England reserves, but the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said such a measure is "unlikely to raise even half" of that sum;
- On health, Reform wants to create an "NHS voucher scheme" for private treatment if people can not get seen by a GP within three days and to hold a public inquiry into excess deaths and "vaccine harms" from the COVID vaccine;
- Reform UK also vows to increase defence spending to 3% within six years and introduce a new dedicated department for veterans - before recruiting 30,000 people to the British Army;
- The party also hopes to recruit 40,000 new police officers - and reduce main corporation tax to 20%;
- Reform also outlines plans to abandon the Windsor Framework, and prepare for re-negotiations on the EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement;
- The party pledges to support marriage through the tax system, planning to introduce a 25% tax allowance "as soon as finances allow";
- There is also a plan to scrap HS2 in full - which Reform UK says will save £25bn, describing the high speed rail line as a "bloated vanity project";
- Mr Farage's party also plans to undertake a reform of the House of Lords - which it would replace with a "smaller, more democratic second chamber";
- Reform UK also aims to reject the "influence" of the World Health Organisation, and wave goodbye to "cancel culture" with a comprehensive Free Speech Bill;
- Reform would also overhaul the BBC, and make St George's Day and St David's Day public holidays.
How would Reform UK find £50bn in wasted spending?
Our political correspondent Gurpreet Narwan is next up, and she asks where £50bn of public sector wasted spending would come from.
Nigel Farage says this would be simple as civil servants mostly work from home.
"If you're running a company and things are tight, you say to your managers and middle managers - right, I'm sorry, this is the way it is, you've got to cut £5 in £100," he adds.
Mr Farage says this is "not unrealistic in any way at all".
"The sheer bloating of the civil service that has taken place... since 2019 is just astonishing."
Could Farage really lead the opposition?
The next question asks Nigel Farage what he would say to those who might like him but don't believe he has the skill to be an actual opposition leader.
"We all have our personalities and yes, of course, I'm fairly decisive," he responds.
"I have an opinion, but it doesn't mean I don't listen and doesn't mean I don't change my mind.
"It doesn't mean I don't respect others and I can't work as part of a team."
He says he "understands the point about compromise" but "equally you have to have a goal".
"I am very confident in what I say and what I believe in," he adds.
"But I think to give leadership you need to have that."
'The scale of this is deeply unserious, isn't it?'
Next up is a question from our deputy political editor Sam Coates, who asks about a proposed additional £141bn of spending every year.
This is far higher than even promised by Liz Truss.
"The scale of this is deeply unserious, isn't it?"
Nigel Farage agrees, saying the Reform UK plan is "radical, it's fresh thinking - it's outside the box".
He goes on to claim that the Tories and Labour Party are "indistinguishable from each other".
Mr Farage stresses again that his fight is about "who the opposition is going to be", as he believes Labour will be in Number 10 in July.
Is this just a wish list?
Asked by the BBCif the 24-page contract set out by Reform UK is a wish list rather than a serious plan, Nigel Farage says "it is a promise that this is what we will campaign for over the next five years".
"Labour doesn't want to talk about these issues," he says.
"We've laid out very clearly where we stand philosophically and ideologically on a number of things and this is what we're going to fight for.
"I see no inconsistency whatsoever."
Mr Farage also says "this is what we are going to campaign for".
How will Reform UK pay for manifesto pledges?
Over to Richard Tice, who is explaining how Reform UK would pay for the policies outlined in his party's 25-page "contract" with the British people.
He says the costs are set out in their manifesto, with plans to abandon plans for net zero saving billions of pounds.
Here's a brief breakdown of how Reform UK claim they would save around £150bn annually to pay for its policies:
- An immigration tax could raise £4bn;
- Savings in immigration costs could total £5bn;
- A crackdown on benefits could save £15bn;
- A 50% cut in foreign aid could total £6bn;
- By scrapping net zero, the UK could save £30bn;
- On transport, £5bn could be raised;
- Another £50bn could be raised by avoiding "wasteful government spending";
- Halting bank interest on QE reserves could equal £35bn.
'The first step on the road to 2029'
Nigel Farage goes on to say that Reform UK will not form the government after the 4 July general election but that it would be the first step on the road to the next contest which could be in 2029.
Mr Farage says his aim is to turn this into a "mass movement" and that there is a "breakdown of trust" in politics.
"We are not pretending that we are going to win this general election, we are a very, very new political party," he says.
He adds though that"this election is for our party" and "the first important step on the road to 2029".
He earlier admitted his ambition was to become PM that year.
"Our ambition is to establish a bridgehead in parliament, and to become a real opposition to a Labour government," he adds.
He saysthe Tories will not be able to provide opposition because "they spend most of their days arguing among themselves, and they're split down the middle when it comes to policy".
Farage takes aim at 20mph speed limit and NHS in attack on Labour record in Wales
Speaking on why he has chosen to launch the party's contract in Wales, the Reform UK leader says "Labour have been in power here since 1997".
"Perhaps there are some lessons we can learn from 25 years of a Labour government in Wales," he says.
He suggests it could be a sign of "what we might be looking forward to in a few weeks time when Sir Keir Starmer becomes PM".
Mr Farage says that in Wales, "taxes are higher" than in England.
He says the "figures in Wales are truly astonishing".
"Waiting times in Wales on the NHS are exactly 50% longer than they are on the other side of the bridge," he adds.
"Education, which has drifted in Wales rapidly in a leftward PC-woke direction, has fallen further behind England."
Mr Farage also claims a Labour government in Wales "reduces your freedoms" and "reduces your choices".
"And of course, the crowning glory of 25 years of Labour government in Wales is the imposition of 20mph speed limits," he adds.
This last comment is met by boos in the crowds.
"In terms of policy, Labour's not very different to the Conservatives -it's just more incompetent," he says.
"It just wastes even more money than Conservative governments do. But here's the point about things going so badly wrong in Wales over 25 years.
"There's been no proper, clear, consistent opposition voice."
'Today is not a manifesto launch'
Nigel Farage says today is "not a manifesto launch".
"When I say to you manifesto, you're immediate association is lie," he says.
"And that is wholly unsurprising."
He says there are also many millions of Brexit voters "genuinely disappointed" by what has happened and there are "feelings of disenchantment".
"Some people say it's a failure of Brexit - no it isn't," he adds.
"It's a failure of a sovereign government to implement the will of the people and its own manifesto."
From Brexit to zero-hour contracts, Starmer answers voters' questions
Sir Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves are in Southampton today, as Labour pledge to invest £7.3bn in their National Wealth Fund.
The Labour leader begins by insisting a Labour government would be a "mindset-changing government" - and a party of "service".
He then takes questions from those at the site:
- The first question focuses on the future of ports, and those who work for them. Sir Keir says this is "absolutely vital", and points to Labour's plan for a National Wealth Fund, which is designed to ensure Britons get a share of the wealth generated by state-funded projects.
- He says money has already been "earmarked" to go into ports - but this "won't only be government money", and says he hopes a more stable government will encourage more private investment too;
- Next, Sir Keir and Ms Reeves are asked what Labour's position is on zero-hour contracts. The Labour leader says some are "simply exploitative", adding: "I've met many people on a zero-hour contract who simply don't know what they're doing the next day or week";
- He adds "in some cases that flexibility works". Sir Keir says Labour plans to "stop the exploitative, zero-hour contracts". This would mean having the right to "demand" the contract that "you need";
- Turning to the matter of Brexit, Sir Keir says: "We do think there's a better deal to be had", describing the current arrangement as "botched" and "not good enough";
- However, Sir Keir did stress this "does not mean going back in" to the EU;
- On the cost of living, the Labour leader says his party is "determined to change our economy" and ensure that the UK never experiences a similar crisis again. "We know what it feels like," Sir Keir says, mentioning his family being unable to pay their phone bill in his childhood.
