Broadcasters need new proposals on pre-election TV debates – Nick Clegg
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Version 0 of 1. Nick Clegg became the first Westminster party leader to say the broadcasters seeking to organise televised leaders’ debates ahead of the election need to bring forward “other proposals”. David Cameron has refused to sign up to the existing plan, which consists of three debates: one between the prime minister and leader of the opposition, one three-way including Clegg, and another that also features Ukip’s leader Nigel Farage. Cameron has said that Green leader, Natalie Bennett, should be included in one of the debates and suggested at prime minister’s questions last week that the three-way debate with Clegg and Miliband should not go ahead either. It is widely thought he is trying to avoid the debates partly because he fears they will help Farage. At the weekend the former Conservative chairman, Lord Patten, advised him to steer clear of the debates, warning Miliband will prove to be a more formidable debater than the Tories recognise. Speaking on BBC1’s Marr programme, the Lib Dem leader appeared to admit that the current proposals would be changed. “The broadcasters need to come forward with other proposals because clearly the current ones I’m not wildly happy about because it excludes me as a leader of a governing party – so they need to come forward with proposals.” Clegg, however, refused to write jointly with Bennett to the broadcasters to say the Greens should be involved. The debate over the TV debates is having an immediate impact on politics with the Greens doubling their membership in two months. Cameron appears to be aware that the belief the Greens should be included is popular. He is also aware that the inclusion would make the debates less likely to happen, and that by popularising the Green cause he weakens Miliband. Clegg, a big beneficiary from the TV debates in 2010, told Bennett: “The broadcasters [are] open to consultation. They put a proposal on the table, they’re taking feedback on that. They should be listening to the public and you have a chance to put your voice over too. “It’s not for me, or David Cameron, or even you Natalie, to tell what the broadcasters should do.” Former Liberal Democrat leader, Lord Ashdown, who is chairman of the party’s 2015 election campaign, said he would debate with anybody – although he insisted politicians should not make the decision over who takes part in the televised events. Ashdown told Murnaghan on Sky News: “If it’s the case the Greens want in, it’s perfectly clear what they should do - not hide behind the prime minister but go to court, and there’s legislation, they can challenge it. They can do that.” |