Next to speak at Labour's Welsh campaign launch is the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy.

He tells the gathered activists: "The first time I ever left the inner-city constituency of Tottenham, I was nine years old, and it was Wales that I came to.

"I can't convey how wonderful it is to be here again with Keir Starmer and Vaughan Gething - it means a lot."

Mr Lammy says Britain and the world face the same challenges, visible through "organised crime gangs that exploit the vulnerable" in Wales, across the UK, and across Europe.

"The numbers of people crossing the Channel on small boats has surged under the Tories, while tens of thousands remain in asylum hotels, permanently in limbo with no prospect of removal due to the government's failed illegal migration bill."

The shadow foreign secretary explains that the level of illegal migrations "takes more than £3bn off our overseas aid budget, which would stop them coming in the first place".

He describes the Rwanda scheme as a "shameless gimmick" - greeted by applause from the audience.

"This will never, ever deter organised crime," he declares, and makes the case that only Sir Keir Starmer and the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, "have a plan to smash the gangs and prosecute serious organised crime".

Welsh First Minister Vaughan Gething is greeted with applause as he takes to the stage.

The Welsh Labour leader, who is facing a Conservative-tabled motion of no confidence in the Senedd next week, says "this is the moment we have been waiting for".

The 4 July election represents a moment where "we can unleash Wales's full potential," he says.

Mr Gething says it is "a moment when hope and history rhyme, and the UK can once again be led by a prime minister and a party that believes in public service".

He criticises what he calls 14 years of "economic vandalism" and "chaos" under the Conservative Party, saying the Tories have "treated politics as a game" rather than "a route to opportunity hope and security".

"Rishi Sunak and the Tories will never stand up for Wales," he tells the crowd.

Mr Gething then lays out six policies introduced by Labour to make Wales a "stronger, greener and fairer country" - including protecting free prescriptions and rolling out universal free school meals.

"Just imagine how much more we could achieve with Keir and a UK Labour government," he says.

"More chaos with the Tories, or a new start with Labour."

Sir Keir Starmer is set to give a speech launching Labour's general election campaign in Wales.

The embattled first minister, Vaughan Gething, will be speaking, and we are also expecting to hear from the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, and the shadow Wales secretary, Jo Stevens.

Watch live in the stream at the top this page, the link below - and follow live updates here in the Politics Hub.

By Jason Farrell, home editor

The House of Commons green benches have fallen silent in Westminster and it's time for us, the United Kingdom, to choose who will occupy them next.

So, Sky News has decided to take a piece of upholstered parliamentary furniture around the country for you to share your thoughts on.

We started our Bench Across Britain series in the West Country, hauling our green bench down the harbour steps, across dark slimy rocks and on to the vast yellow sands of Towan Beach in Newquay Bay.

Read what voters told us on the green bench here:

On 12 June, Sky News will be hosting an election leaders event in Grimsby - a key marginal seat and one of our Target Towns this election year.

The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and the Conservative leader Rishi Sunak have been invited to attend, and we are looking for a live audience to join us on the night.

If you would like to be part of this studio audience, and be given the opportunity to ask a question to one of the party leaders, please complete the short questionnaire in this link.

Sir Keir has agreed to take part, with talks ongoing with Mr Sunak's team.

A spokesperson for the Conservatives said: "Rishi Sunak would be delighted to travel Grimsby to take part in Sky News leaders' event and answer questions from voters, on the condition that he and Keir Starmer take those questions on stage together.

"This will give viewers the best opportunity to see the clear choice the country faces at this election."

Sky News' deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico's Jack Blanchard with their daily guide to the election day ahead.

This is day 8 of the campaign. Jack and Sam discuss Labour trying to settle its position on taxation, the claims that Sir Keir Starmer is purging the left of his party and a day which has a double dose of Nigel Farage.

👉 Listen above then tap here to follow Politics at Jack at Sam's wherever you get your podcasts 👈

Email Jack and Sam: jackandsam@sky.uk

Rishi Sunak has been urged to de-select Liz Truss as a Tory election candidate after she appeared on a platform founded by YouTuber Carl Benjamin, who wrote on Twitter in 2016 he "wouldn't even rape" Jess Phillips, the Labour candidate for Birmingham Yardley.

In 2019, when he was standing to be a UKIP MEP, he refused to apologise and later went on to say: "I've been in a lot of trouble for my hardline stance of not even raping her. I suppose with enough pressure I might cave. But let's be honest, nobody's got that much beer."

Mr Benjamin, founder of the Lotus Eaters, has claimed he was being "attacked and misrepresented" and said his previous comments were a "joke".

After Ms Phillips called for his deselection, Mr Benjamin hit back on X: "It's hard to believe that parliamentarians live in fear of YouTubers making jokes, when the apparently real threat of terrorism looms over their head." (read his full statement here).

Sky's Kay Burley asks Chancellor Jeremy Hunt about Ms Truss appearing on the platform, and he replies that the comments were "pretty despicable" and the party "would certainly not condone them".

But he goes on: "I can't speak for Liz Truss. She makes her own decisions."

He then pivots back to the economy, saying: "What I did as chancellor was I reversed most of the big decisions that she had taken in a very short period of time in order to restore stability in the markets."

Mr Hunt does not respond to Ms Phillips' call for Ms Truss to be de-selected.

Rishi Sunak has done an interview this morning in which he said interest rates would fall under a government led by him.

But Sky's Kay Burley puts to the chancellor that it's the Bank of England's job to reduce interest rates, not the government's, which the chancellor agrees with.

"They decide the level of interest rates independently," Jeremy Hunt says.

But explaining why the PM said that, he says: "Labour have a not funded about £38bn of spending commitments, and if they had to fund that through borrowing more, then that puts pressure on the Bank of England to increase interest rates.

"And so what we're saying is that, you know, since Rishi Sunak and I have taken on the reins, we've taken very difficult decisions to put the public finances back on an even keel.

"That has made it possible to bring down inflation and for the Bank of England to bring down interest rates. And we don't want that to change."

The Tories have unveiled plans to unfreeze tax thresholds for retirees to ensure they never pay income tax on the state pension.

But analysis from the i newspaper suggests the move will save retirees relying on the state pension just £14.60 a year by 2028 - or around 28p per week.

We ask Chancellor Jeremy Hunt how 28p per week will help pensioners, and he replies that the number "is a nonsense".

He says the policy will "save the average pensioner £100 next year, or £1,000 over the course of the next parliament".

Sky's Kay Burley puts to the chancellor that the Institute for Fiscal Studies says pensioners used to have a higher tax-free allowance until it was scrapped in 2010/11 - and the allowance is now 10% lower than it was.

But Mr Hunt defends the government, saying that due to the triple lock, the state pension "has gone up by £3,700 since 2010".

The triple lock is a government promise to raise state pensions every year by the level of average earnings, inflation or 2.5% - whichever is the highest.

Mr Hunt says the government has "looked after pensioners, and we will continue to look after pensioners because we recognise that they are different from everyone else" because they cannot work more to earn extra money.

We are speaking now with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, and we start with the cost of living.

Sky's Kay Burley puts to him that 33% of households in the UK have a dog, and the price of dog food has gone up by 58% this year.

We ask if a Tory government would reduce the cost of pet food, and he replies: "We want to stop the cost of pet food going up."

But he added: "I can't make a commitment about reducing prices - they're decided in a market economy by lots of different actors."

But Kay Burley points out that there is VAT on dog food - something he could scrap.

He replies: "There are lots of taxes I'd like to bring down. The most important thing I can do for families at home is to stop prices going up by supporting the Bank of England to reduce inflation."

Mr Hunt notes that the International Monetary Fund upgraded its forecast for the UK economy last week - but also says wages have been going up faster than prices for the last 10 months, which eases the cost of living.

Pushed on if he would remove VAT from dog food, he declines to do so - but does commit to not increasing VAT, income tax, or national insurance, saying the Tories want to reduce taxes.

He attacks Labour, saying they have "no plan to bring down the tax burden".