Wednesday 26th March: Clegg v Farage TV Debate (Round One)

[The Don]

I don't think Farage has done his chances of getting on the leaders debate any good (AKA, Cameron will probably be more afraid from having him on after that).

Pretty much as expected though, no? I did think Farage was a bit immature at laughing at some of the things that Clegg said, I wouldn't say that was professional, but I suppose that's the sort of guy he is

I don't think it was one sided, Nick Clegg definitely held up his end even though Farage loved talking over him, especially when Clegg was actually listing the facts rather than baseless statements.

[Kardan]

I don't think it was one sided, Nick Clegg definitely held up his end even though Farage loved talking over him, especially when Clegg was actually listing the facts rather than baseless statements.

I wouldn't say it was one sided, just that Farage can definitely hold his ground in a debate, so Cameron wouldn't like that But I felt it was pretty predictable with them disagreeing about everything and them both having different figures for everything

[The Don]

I wouldn't say it was one sided, just that Farage can definitely hold his ground in a debate, so Cameron wouldn't like that But I felt it was pretty predictable with them disagreeing about everything and them both having different figures for everything

Yeh, but I guess at least Nick Clegg actually used legitimate facts and numbers whilst Farage was reluctant to explain how he came up with his, particularly on the 75% of legislation comes from brussels, he was quick to dodge the question when asked how he reached that number even though the house of commons disagreed.

[-:Undertaker:-]

In terms of performance, I think Farage did best at the start, Clegg in the middle and pretty much even at the end. That said, to me trying to be impartial and as a swing voter: Clegg certainly came across as more establishment and comforting which is what a lot of people flock to.

What really pissed me off and had me shouting at the screen was Clegg talking over Farage and continuously going on long rants about how the sky would fall in and we would all lose our jobs if we dared leave the EU. Whether my concern that Clegg overtalked Farage over and over again is true and not just my bias will be confirmed or not confirmed when we get the stats on how many minutes each of the men had.

In any case, both did good and it wasn't a complete car crash for Clegg as many would have perhaps expected.

Yeh, but I guess at least Nick Clegg actually used legitimate facts and numbers whilst Farage was reluctant to explain how he came up with his, particularly on the 75% of legislation comes from brussels, he was quick to dodge the question when asked how he reached that number even though the house of commons disagreed.

Farage explained where those figures came from. Indeed if my memory recalls correctly, he quoted three sources as saying that European legislation was over 50% of all laws in the UK. That's why he made the point that small business owners in the audience would know fully well as to what he was talking about.

The House of Commons library figure that Clegg quoted is false due to the fact that many EU laws and directives are passed as home laws so they may appear as UK law but are in fact mandated by the EU. I think the Human Rights Act is an example of this (although i'm sure Ryan will correct me if i'm wrong). It's also false due to the fact that the HoC library figures, to my knowledge, don't include local laws or devolved law making.

[The Don]

In terms of performance, I think Farage did best at the start, Clegg in the middle and pretty much even at the end. That said, to me trying to be impartial and as a swing voter: Clegg certainly came across as more establishment and comforting which is what a lot of people flock to.

What really pissed me off and had me shouting at the screen was Clegg talking over Farage and continuously going on long rants about how the sky would fall in and we would all lose our jobs if we dared leave the EU. Whether my concern that Clegg overtalked Farage over and over again is true and not just my bias will be confirmed or not confirmed when we get the stats on how many minutes each of the men had.

In any case, both did good and it wasn't a complete car crash for Clegg as many would have perhaps expected.



Farage explained where those figures came from. Indeed if my memory recalls correctly, he quoted three sources as saying that European legislation was over 50% of all laws in the UK. That's why he made the point that small business owners in the audience would know fully well as to what he was talking about.

I guess we're both suffering from confirmation bias since I thought Farage kept talking over Clegg, not the other way around

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Definitely agree that Farage did better at the start and Clegg as it progressed. An extremely harsh first question though about giving people a referendum as Clegg couldn't really answer it.

[-:Undertaker:-]

First scientific poll out on the debate (weighted etc I presume to give accurate representation):

YouGov/The Sun with a normal sample size of 1,000+

I personally don't think it was that wide a gap.

My heart is pounding tonight haha, adrenaline rush. Debates are the sport of nerds.

[Kardan]

Do you think Farage would normally get a higher vote than you would expect because it was essentially his first big chance to shine? I sort of felt that happened a bit with Clegg in the 2010 debates.

I really hope Farage gets to be in the general election debates.

[The Don]

Does anyone else think Felicity Morse is coming across as a bit of an idiot? Definitely needs to think more before she opens her mouth.

And yeh, I hope Farage gets into the general election debates, would definitely be more exciting to watch.

[MKR&*42]

Do you know what Nick Clegg didn't do as shockingly as I expected him too, but yeah there were a lot of times where both of them interrupted each other (not exactly uncommon though ) - good debate though.

[GommeInc]

Quite shocked Parliament and Clegg think only 7% of UK laws are from the EU. Even the EU states it's around the 75% mark and logically that makes sense seeing as the EU has a faster legislative process than us so we have a huge backlog. Anyone interested can begin by simply researching "dualist" processes and go from there - essentially we make law rather than agree to a Directive and have it incorporated as domestic law immediately.

Looking at the number of Bills currently going before Parliament quite a lot are coming from EU Directives and Regulations - far more than 7% :/ You have the Consumer Rights Directive which is currently the Consumer Rights Bill, Voting Eligibility Bill (technically ECHR work but the EU pushes it too), Wild Animals in Circuses Bill (based on half an EU Regulation and half a general movement although it's a bit pointless now) and the Deregulation Bill which is based on an EU Directive. The only unique ones at the moment are the Modern Slavery Bill (which is a first in Europe, so fingers up at them for being behind), Wales Bill (self-explanatory), National Insurance Contributions Bill (which is essentially getting everyone to contribute incl. migrants/immigrants) and the Draft Finances Bill 2014 which is based on the current changes in the budget.

If anything, for this year (2014) it's a nice 50/50 split, although some of it is delegated legislation so essentially building off either current EU based law or domestic law (Dangerous Dogs (Amendment) Bill being one).