As if the TV debates themselves (if they happen) won’t be long and rambling enough, the journey to agreeing the line-up has become the most tedious saga of the general election campaign.
But it finally looks like our leaders might be coming close to an agreement. Last week, ITV and the BBC revealed that they had proposed a new line-up for the debates, with seven-way panels including the SNP, Greens and Plaid Cymru. This plan means the Conservatives, so keen for the Greens’ inclusion as a potential drain on Labour support, are close to agreeing David Cameron’s participation in the debates.
The Tory party chairman, Grant Shapps, has called the new plan “a lot more sensible” than the initial line-ups, which would have pitted the PM against Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage. “I think we are edging here towards something that makes more sense,” he added, on the BBC’s Sunday Politics.
The leader of the Greens, Natalie Bennett, has confirmed that she would represent her party in the debates, rather than the only Green MP and former leader, Caroline Lucas. She has been fighting for her party’s representation in the debates for some time, and welcomes the broadcasters’ new deal.
However, problems remain. The DUP’s representative in Westminster, Nigel Dodds MP, calls it a “farcical situation” that his party has not been asked to participate in the multiple-party panels. His party has eight MPs. Also, the Lib Dems believe they should be represented in all four debates; the Channel 4 and Sky News offers each remain a simple Cameron/Miliband head-to-head.
With hints from Shapps that the Tories are inching towards an agreement, it looks like the Prime Minister is very likely to take part, which would mean that – in whatever configuration – the debates are well on the way to our screens.
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