Heated clash of tax and defence in BBC election debate

He also argued for change the tone of the debate on immigration and “too much of it is framed around the bigotry of people like Nigel Farage”.

Mr Farage was attacked by the SNP, Plaid and the Greens over his immigration stance, but he insisted the “population explosion” raised housing prices and cutting migration to “net zero” would fix it.

He also appeared to say that he believed the NHS should be abolished, at least in its current form funded by general taxation – arguing French-style insurance system would get better results “for the same money”.

But the Reform UK leader’s comments about the election campaign being “dull” and “very dull in the case of Labour” went down well with the audience.

And he got a round of applause for a call to crack down on knife crime with more “stop and search”.

Green co-leader Carla Denyer criticised Labour for ditching its policy to spend £28bn a year on its green investment plan.

“Tackling climate change does us so much good” both economically and environmentally, Ms Denyer argued.

Rhun ap Iorwerth, Plaid Cymru’s leader, said he had seen a growing lack of trust in politics over the last 30 years, saying politicians need to be honest about taxes and improve fairness in the system.

He urged for a fairer tax system to stop people like Mr Sunak from paying less on investments than workers do on their “hard graft.”