8pm to 10pm Thursday night: the TV Leaders Debate

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-campaign.html

Seven leaders, four questions, two hours, 42 speaking slots: How Cameron will have the last word in the only major TV debate of the election campaign

• Strict rules revealed on who will speak and when during two-hour show
  
• ITV draws lots to agree which podium each leader will stand behind
• Just four 'substantial election questions' will be asked during the night
• ITV newsreader Julie Etchingham will keep order with just on ad break

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Originally Posted by Daily Mail

Battlelines have been drawn for the only major TV debate of the election campaign, when seven party leaders will go head-to-head in a two-hour marathon. The debate takes place tomorrow night (Thursday) from 8pm to 10pm.

Tory leader David Cameron, Labour's Ed Miliband and Lib Dem Nick Clegg will share a platform with Ukip's Nigel Farage, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, the Green Party's Natalie Bennett and Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood.

Strict rules released by broadcaster ITV for Thursday's night's event spell out in minute detail who will speak when, and for how long, with host Julie Etchingham trying to keep order.

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http://www.ezimba.com/work/150402C/e...5245510200.png
Podium line up (in that order)

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Originally Posted by Daily Mail

Lots have been drawn to agree where each of the leaders will stand and when they get to speak.

The agreed line up behind the podiums will be, from left to right: Natalie Bennett (Green), Nick Clegg (Lib Dem), Nigel Farage (Ukip), Ed Miliband (Labour), Leanne Wood (Plaid Cymru), Nicola Sturgeon (SNP) and David Cameron (Conservative).

Names drawn out of a hat also helped to decide who will get to speak first, with Ms Bennett opening proceedings and Mr Cameron having the final word by giving the last closing remarks.

The two-hour live debate will be be screened from 8pm to 10pm on Thursday night.

Each leader will give an opening statement to a studio audience of around 200 people.

They will then be allowed to deliver an uninterrupted one-minute answer to each question, before 18 minutes of debate on each question. There will be just four 'substantial election questions' covered during the night.

Each leader will then give a closing statement to the cameras, before the programme ends at 10pm.

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http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/...7809319622.jpg

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Originally Posted by Daily Mail

Mr Cameron will speak last, enabling him to have the last word. He is likely to repeat his refrain that a vote for anything other than a Tory majority will mean 'chaos'.

Producers insist that the leaders will not see the questions in advance and an 'experienced editorial panel' will select them.

Polling company ICM has chosen the 'politically-balanced' audience, with around 20 per cent said to be undecided voters.

During the entire two-hour programme there will be just one advert break, a highly unusual move for Britain's biggest commercial broadcaster.

The live programme is the only debate involving all of the main leaders scheduled for the campaign, after months of protracted negotiations between broadcasters and the parties.

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https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CBgLW2IUsAEWFee.png
YouGov

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Originally Posted by Daily Mail

Mr Farage said he was disappointed to be placed near the middle of the line-up for the debates, rather than near Mr Cameron. Speaking on a visit to the Coastguard pub, close to the White Cliffs of Dover, Mr Farage said: 'I'm disappointed that Mr Cameron is so far away from me but we'll make the best of it.'

In the run-up to the 2010 election there were three debates, in which Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg took on Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

However, other parties including Ukip and the Greens demanded a slot, while Mr Cameron refused to take part in several debates once the campaign got underway.

Labour have accused the Tory leader of being 'chicken' for refusing to go up against Mr Miliband.

On April 16 the BBC will host a 'challengers debate' with only the leaders of opposition parties including Labour, Ukip, the SNP, the Greens and Plaid Cymru.

Then on April 30 there will be a special of BBC's Question Time, with Mr Cameron, Mr Miliband and Mr Clegg appearing separately to answer questions from a studio audience.

ITV has asked the audience for their questions while viewers have been asked to submit questions via [email protected].

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Well Mr Cameron got his wish of including almost everybody and only having one debate... which means he won't face the mauling Clegg had when he took on Farage. In terms of who will come off best, my money would be on Nigel Farage and Nicola Sturgeon as they are both very strong speakers... in terms of worst I think David Cameron (purely for the reason he's going to have to be on the defence constantly) as well as Natalie Bennett. But who knows?

I'm watching this one, might aswell as thanks to the Chicken we're only having the one.

Vote in the poll (MULTIPLE CHOICE) as to who you think will come off the best in the debates even if you don't support them.

Thoughts?

Should be interesting. Sturgeon must be over the moon at her podium placement lol.

It seems a bit peculiar that they have it in that order. I would have made it fixed with the outgoing PM in the middle, the two historic major parties either side and a random mix up by draw of the outer four.

Not that it matters as this is just for show. I can't say I will purposefully watch it.

Why (based on the poll) is Nick Clegg so far down.

IIRC when he debated Nigel Farage on the EU he was considered to be ''good at debating''?

Also, ms bennett will do the worst.

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Originally Posted by Intersocial

Why (based on the poll) is Nick Clegg so far down.

IIRC when he debated Nigel Farage on the EU he was considered to be ''good at debating''?

Also, ms bennett will do the worst.

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The polls for Nick Clegg after debating Nigel Farage suggested a crushing defeat. :P

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Originally Posted by -:Undertaker:-

The polls for Nick Clegg after debating Nigel Farage suggested a crushing defeat. :P

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Oh woops I must have gotten mixed up somehow :P

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Originally Posted by Intersocial

Oh woops I must have gotten mixed up somehow :P

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Found the polling for it.

First televised Clegg v Farage debate had Clegg on 36% and Farage on 57%

Second one had Clegg on 31% and Farage on 69%.

I assume the same will be held after the debate tonight so it'll be interesting to see who comes out tops. But you made a fair point though, Clegg is considered and is a good debater compared to both Cameron and Miliband which makes me think they are both in for quite a ride tonight especially against Sturgeon/Farage.

A picture of the studio for tonight has been released.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CBiOroAUkAI55ld.jpg:large

you are the weakest link

goodbye

Bookies tip Farage odds on to win the debate tonight which matches our own HxF poll at the moment.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/ampp3d/...medium=twitter

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Originally Posted by Daily Mirror

It's Farage. Nigel Farage will storm off with the Leaders Debate today, according to betting company Betfair. The bookies calculate the Ukip leader has a 36% chance of victory, putting him top of the list as their most likely winner. Put a tenner on Nigel Farage winning and you could make back £17.50.

Put a tenner on Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood winning and you could make back £220.

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Reading that ComRes, Survation and YouGov confirmed to be doing polling straight afterwards. Rumours of other pollsters around too.

I reckon Farage will probably come out on top. I reckon Cameron and Miliband can only lose in this type of debate really.

I wasn't sure who to vote for. I picked Ed Milliband as he seems to be able to handle a few under the pressure questions. That said, this is a superficial debate so it should be reasonably easy for all of them to compete so maybe even Farage will come up tops. The separatist parties seem unlikely to do well, just because they're small in number and have very little agenda outside of their own countries other than to spout the obvious, repetitive information you hear all the time from the Big Three (and Four) parties.

10 mins until the match wowowo

Cameron and Clegg have the "it's getting better, let us finish what we started" gambit on their side but I'm hoping that milliband has been under intensive debate training and will show everyone how great labour is

Farage ****** himself by only talking about immigrants during the NHS segment.

these strict rules on who speaks are not being enforced it is Farage jumping in every two seconds and Milliband and Cameron refusing to stop speaking shock

SO much valuable time wasted by plaid, snp and greens sigh

- - - Updated - - -

however I just love Ed Milliband

the first hour was Clegg trying to make CLEAR he is no longer affiliated with Cameron to prove a point which seems to have failed

ed miliband

http://cdn.teen.com/wp-content/uploa...ven-vision.gif

Ed Milliband has made me proud tonight

Every time Wales was mentioned it felt like they were the little kid in school who tries to impress the popular ones.

The snap polls are all saying different things, although YouGov backs my prediction saying Sturgeon was voted top and Farage in second place.

I have to say apart from the immigration question which Farage nailed them all to a post, it was all rather dull. With the exception of Cameron, Clegg and Farage all the others just seemed to be trying to out do one another in how much more money they could pledge to spend. Don't people understand it all has to be paid back!? If you just want to vote for someone who will pledge loads of freebies then Miliband, Wood, Sturgeon and Bennett are right up that street.

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Originally Posted by Aiden

Every time Wales was mentioned it felt like they were the little kid in school who tries to impress the popular ones.

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are you having a giggle.
@scottish; @Kyle; who stole my name.

OT: SNP performed the best.

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Casually browsing reddit to see what people thought, and I find a user called Chippiewall commentating...
@Chippiewill;

100% is, they posted in the coldplay subreddit. How freaky is that.

snp called farage out and then he shut up for the rest of the debate that didnt involve immigration lol

ed milliband's casual turns to the camera to gaze into our souls and extract our deepest darkest thoughts had me a bit on edge and his constant clicking of the fingers was quite irritating but aside from that i feel that he and nick clegg performed rather well all despite ignoring the other parties and the greens to focus on bashing cameron.
@Kardan; it's skandair hahaha

Seemed a bit "meh". It was interesting seeing them all counter each other. Leanne Wood was great at shutting up Ed Milliband. Natalie Bennett was pretty decent at holding her own and bringing in a few statistics to shut them up in hat were equally dull moments. Not sure who really outperformed the others. Cameron made it all about Labour which was pointless - it's about the future, not the past and Labour has changed a lot.

At the end of the day, vote for the party with good potential ministers, not the leaders. Labour has some really good shadow ministers who put Milliband to shame charismatically and professionally. Ed Balls seems pretty decent minded - agreeing with the recent budget but being more sensible. Same for the shadow business, health and education secretaries.

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Originally Posted by -:Undertaker:-

Don't people understand it all has to be paid back!?

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Funnily enough, no it doesn't. As I've said in the past, because our debt is issued in our own currency any inflation will cause a corresponding decrease in our debt - we can run a deficit whilst simultaneously shrinking the debt in real terms.

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Originally Posted by Chippiewill

Funnily enough, no it doesn't. As I've said in the past, because our debt is issued in our own currency any inflation will cause a corresponding decrease in our debt - we can run a deficit whilst simultaneously shrinking the debt in real terms.

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And which then makes us all poorer as you devalue the currency which causes the inflation.

It has to be paid back and is paid back one way or another. The worst thing you can do is print money as a way to get out of debt - unless the situation is serious as in Greece which no longer has that option as it no longer has monetary independence - as that is what punishes savers and which then results in nobody in the future making and savings and thus you end up with an economy that is based on credit card insane spending.

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Originally Posted by -:Undertaker:-

And which then makes us all poorer as you devalue the currency which causes the inflation.

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Inflation is inevitable, you may as well use it whilst it's happening.

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Originally Posted by Chippiewill

Inflation is inevitable, you may as well use it whilst it's happening.

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It is inevitable with paper currency, yes.

But I don't support a fiat currency whereas the government does as it allows it to spend ridiculous amounts via the secret tax of printing money.

Well considering there is no party which is not considering to stop printing money my point still stands that they don't have to pay it back.

Nigel Farage managed to blame immigration for every single topic. One issue Politician.

nichola sturgeon won it for me tbh, was kinda disappointed in natalie bennett but i kinda knew she wouldn't perform amazingly after what happened on the radio anyway, and i shall still be voting green either way no matter what happens in the debates tbh. Was particularly pleased with leanne wood picking out on nigel farage for the way he was talking about hiv during the nhs question though, someone really did need to slap him in the face during that question tbh.

Ed got really annoying for me because he felt the need to constantly mention 'zero hour contracts' and 'mansion tax' in every single q.
Cameron and Clegg arguments were fun to watch as well.

Don't really know who I thought did the best, Clegg or Nicola or Cameron were the top three IMO
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Omg yes Leanne responding to Farage on the HIV lmao.

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Originally Posted by Kyle

snp called farage out and then he shut up for the rest of the debate that didnt involve immigration lol

ed milliband's casual turns to the camera to gaze into our souls and extract our deepest darkest thoughts had me a bit on edge and his constant clicking of the fingers was quite irritating but aside from that i feel that he and nick clegg performed rather well all despite ignoring the other parties and the greens to focus on bashing cameron.
@Kardan; it's skandair hahaha

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He literally must have set an alarm to come back at the end of March when the username became available since he hadn't posted for months before hand :(

Miliband was cringeworthy in the fact that it was all too obvious he read something called 'How to win votes 101' which involved turning to the camera and saying 'you' a lot.

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Originally Posted by Kardan

Miliband was cringeworthy in the fact that it was all too obvious he read something called 'How to win votes 101' which involved turning to the camera and saying 'you' a lot.

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He was really cringeworthy. No one wants him looking straight at them, piercing the very fibre of their souls while mentioning the Mansion Tax and Zero Hour Contracts.

Did anyone do, or know anyone that did, the Live Debates Drinking Game? I assume they all died of alcohol poisoning in the first part seeing as "balancing the books" was mentioned in every other sentence.

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Originally Posted by conservative

Nigel Farage managed to blame immigration for every single topic. One issue Politician.

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Because it is a huge issue and the others still won't tell the truth on it, not to mention the fact that when you have limited time to speak focus on repeating your core issues just as Labour/Plaid did with austerity and the Tories did with their economic plan. Kudos to Leanne Wood who actually admitted the bleeding obvious.

On the immigration subject specifically, Farage's gamble appears to have paid off as this is what pollster Survation had to say after the debate.

http://www.ezimba.com/work/150404C/e...9113680500.png

It's like when housing got brought up. Only Farage mentioned the elephant in the room: net migration of 300,000. Hence why he along with Sturgeon topped poll.

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Originally Posted by -:Undertaker:-

Because it is a huge issue and the others still won't tell the truth on it, not to mention the fact that when you have limited time to speak focus on repeating your core issues just as Labour/Plaid did with austerity and the Tories did with their economic plan. Kudos to Leanne Wood who actually admitted the bleeding obvious.

On the immigration subject specifically, Farage's gamble appears to have paid off as this is what pollster Survation had to say after the debate.

http://www.ezimba.com/work/150404C/e...9113680500.png

It's like when housing got brought up. Only Farage mentioned the elephant in the room: net migration of 300,000. Hence why he along with Sturgeon topped poll.

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Of course he was seen as 'best' for immigration - it's all he talked about throughout the debate!

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Originally Posted by GommeInc

He was really cringeworthy. No one wants him looking straight at them, piercing the very fibre of their souls while mentioning the Mansion Tax and Zero Hour Contracts.

Did anyone do, or know anyone that did, the Live Debates Drinking Game? I assume they all died of alcohol poisoning in the first part seeing as "balancing the books" was mentioned in every other sentence.

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I didn't know there was an official drinking game :P I found one on TheStudentRoom this morning which looked pretty funny.

I did my own one last night during the second half... Zero Hour Contracts was mentioned a lot so you can imagine what happened to me.

The Plaid Cymru leader seems so entitled oh my god I couldn't stand her. I get she has to talk about the flaws in Wales, but to complain that they are getting a raw deal compared to Scotland pisses me off considering England and Scotland have a similar GDP per capita and Wales is falling behind, yet England is the one getting the worst deal out of all the 4 "home nations". Sturgeon did better than expected to be honest and I sort of have to wonder if approval for them is good across the whole of the UK, how long the SNP will stay the SNP. Everything else was fairly predictable and dull.

I still think Nigel will be the guys here. https://imagicon.info/cat/10-3/1.gif