We fact checked the ITV election debate between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, from taxes to immigration - here's what you need to know

Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak clashed over the economy, immigration and the NHS in a feisty first TV general election debate.

The Prime Minister attacked Sir Keir over tax rises, while the Labour Leader ridiculed Mr Sunak over NHS waiting lists. Both men made a series of claims about their own credentials and each others, with varying relationships with the truth. Here are some of the claims, and how they stack up.

Tax

Both leaders made a series of questionable claims on Tuesday evening.

Far and away the most tetchy argument was Rishi Sunak’s claim that under Labour there would be “£2,000 higher taxes for every working family”. The Prime Minister said this was based on independent analysis of Labour's spending plans by the civil service.

However, it is not true, doesn’t come from independent analysis, and the Prime Minister and his ministers were warned about this days ago.

On Wednesday morning, it emerged the chief Treasury civil servant wrote to Labour two days ago saying the Conservatives’ assessment of their tax plans "should not be presented as having been produced by the civil service".

The government also say the figure relates to a £38.5 billion “black hole” in Labour’s finances, but this is based on a lot of assumptions. While the full Labour finances are not yet worked out due to a lack of manifesto, it is not verifiably true, and does not come from an independent source.

For his part, the Labour leader claimed there have been 26 tax rises under the Conservatives, but given they’ve gone up and down hundreds of times, it’s unclear where this figure came from.

Sir Keir also claimed it was Tory policy to get rid of National Insurance altogether, costing £46bn. While it would cost that, the Prime Minister has not said he’d do this in the next parliament, it’s instead a “long-term ambition”.

NHS waiting lists

One of the more uncomfortable moments for Mr Sunak was a debate about NHS England waiting lists, with the audience openly laughing at him when he insisted they were going down.

However, he’s not necessarily wrong. Non-emergency waiting lists are falling month on month, which suggests it’s true. But the total figure of more than 350,000 is still higher than the equivalent period from a year before. Last September, waiting lists rose to a peak of nearly 7.8 million.

It’s also 600,000 higher than when Mr Sunak became Prime Minister. So the truth supports both arguments, which isn’t helpful.

Immigration

Discussing migration, the Prime Minister claimed small boat arrivals are down a third over the past 12 months. While that's true year on year, they're actually up 38 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Defence

One area where we can say with certainty if something is accurate was Mr Sunak’s claim Labour hasn’t matched the Tory pledge to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).In actuality Labour has said this, with the only difference being the pledge is “as soon as resources allow”, whereas the Conservatives have promised to deliver it by 2030.