Seven Party TV debate plan announced

[scottish]

Broadcasters have published new plans for TV election debates, including leaders of seven UK political parties.

The BBC and ITV plan to stage debates involving the Conservatives, Labour, the Lib Dems, Green Party, UKIP, the SNP and Plaid Cymru.

Sky and Channel 4's plan to host a head-to-head between Mr Cameron and Ed Miliband remains unchanged.

The broadcasters said the debates would go ahead regardless of whether any party leader refused to take part.

"The party leaders will be formally invited to take part in these debates. In the event that any of the invited party leaders decline to participate, debates will take place with the party leaders who accept the invitation," they said in a joint statement.

The broadcasters have gone out of their way - possibly at the expense of an engrossing spectacle for viewers - to accommodate Mr Cameron's stated desire to include the Greens in any line-up.

With the SNP and Plaid Cymru also invited to take part, it's just possible this would be the least damaging option for David Cameron.

The revised format comes after the broadcasters failed to reach agreement with the political parties over the original proposals, which only included the Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems and UKIP.

David Cameron had refused to take part unless the Green Party were included, saying "all national parties" should be represented - prompting a political row.

Labour leader Ed Miliband, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and UKIP's Nigel Farage accused Mr Cameron of using the Greens as an excuse to stop the debates.

'Significant move'
But the prime minister said it was a matter of fairness.

The broadcasters - BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky - said the proposed format takes into account representations from other political parties, polling and broad public opinion.

The suggested schedule is for debates to be held on 2 April, 16 April and 30 April, ahead of the UK-wide poll on 7 May.

The order of the debates is to be discussed with the political parties.

Broadcasters put forward initial proposals for live televised election debates in October 2014.

They proposed a head-to-head encounter between Mr Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband, another including Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, and a third featuring the leaders of the Tories, Labour, Lib Dems and UKIP.

But in January, Mr Cameron objected to the Green Party not being included and said he would not take part - forcing a rethink from the broadcasters.

Under the new proposals, issued on Friday:

there would be two seven-way debates including representatives of the Conservative Party, Labour, Liberal Democrats, UKIP, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru
one of these would be hosted by BBC, and the other by ITV
a third debate would include a head-to-head between David Cameron and Ed Miliband, jointly hosted by Channel 4 and Sky
all debates would be held in April, during the general election campaign.

Responding to the new proposals, the Conservative Party said: "Any new proposals will be considered as part of the ongoing debates process."

A Labour spokesman said the party would "debate anyone the broadcasters choose" and welcomed the proposal for the debates to be held during the official election campaign.

"The broadcasters have obviously made a very significant move to adopt wholesale the prime minister's proposals and it surely now not possible for him to maintain his opposition to participating in these debates.

"We relish the opportunity for Ed Miliband to take on David Cameron directly in a head-to-head debate," they said.

But the Lib Dems said they would insist on being represented in all three debates.

"We have always been in favour of TV debates and are committed to making them happen but want to continue discussing the most recently proposed format," a spokesman said.

"We have always been clear that as a party of government, we must be able to defend our record in all the TV debates."

'Time waster'
UKIP's Patrick O'Flynn said the broadcasters had "bent over backwards" to accommodate Mr Cameron's debate conditions but he had still not said he would take part.

The MEP told the BBC Mr Cameron was in "grave danger" of being seen as a "time waster" and someone who "has not got the courage of his convictions".

"It is not a good look for a prime minister to be seen running scared," he said.

Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party in England and Wales, said the broadcasters' revised proposals acknowledged that we now are "in an age of multi-party politics".

"This groundbreaking decision serves the interests of both the electorate and British democracy," she said.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also welcomed the news, saying the case for inviting the SNP was "unanswerable".

"The broadcasters have rightly continued to monitor the electoral landscape, taking into account the polling evidence, and the expressions of public support for the debates to include a wider range of parties - reflecting the reality of our democracy and electoral choices in Scotland and elsewhere."

Thoughts?

[AgnesIO]

Absolutely ridiculous - Farage is acceptable, the rest of them are not.

Scottish party, Welsh party.. they cannot seriously be interest in government - I don't want to be controlled by a party that works solely for one part of the Union. Green party is debatable, but holds a more reasonable position than the others.

[The Don]

Well I guess Cameron got his wish.

[GommeInc]

It's strange. If they held individual debates (one in Wales, Norther Ireland, England and another in Scotland) with the parties who are likely to do anything it may make sense, but a TV debate with seven party leaders for the entire UK which are barely represented across it seems like a pointless exercise.

[MKR&*42]

Yeah I saw headline earlier on bbc and just rolled my eyes. Seriously how do we go from

- Three parties debate, to
- Four parties (UKIP), to
- David Cameron wanting five parties (+Green), to
- 7 Parties

It's absurd. No-one's going to get a word in edgeways. I honestly wanted the greens to be on the debate as I'd like to hear more about their views, but the addition of SNP + Plaid Cymru really. What GommeInc said makes more sense really

[FlyingJesus]

Sounds messy and will just be a waste of money with people shouting over each other from all corners and no-one getting a proper representative view across

[dbgtz]

Absolutely ridiculous - Farage is acceptable, the rest of them are not.

Scottish party, Welsh party.. they cannot seriously be interest in government - I don't want to be controlled by a party that works solely for one part of the Union. Green party is debatable, but holds a more reasonable position than the others.

The SNP is a possibility if it's a hung parliament and the they get as many seats as predicted.

[AgnesIO]

The SNP is a possibility if it's a hung parliament and the they get as many seats as predicted.

No Scottish, Welsh, English or Irish national party should have the power to govern the Union.

[dbgtz]

No Scottish, Welsh, English or Irish national party should have the power to govern the Union.

If it's in a coalition with a party which has influence in the other constituencies, there's not really a huge issue. It would be rather hypocritical though, which is why I really do hope for some kind of coalition with the SNP.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Mike Smithson of PB reckons this will simply lead to a court challenge which will end the debates: http://www2.politicalbetting.com/ind...ourt-challenge The SNP and Plaid being included is absurd, as Smithson asks: what about the DUP? Sinn Fein? The SNP even has a much stronger claim than Plaid to be in the debates.

At the end of the day the only national parties are Labour, the Tories, Liberals, Ukip and at a big stretch the Greens.