Should Leaders Debates be Compulsorily?

A petition calling for leaders' TV debates to become a "regular fixture" during general elections is to be discussed in Parliament.

It used to be a sort of Tradition that the leader of the opposition would challenge the then Prime Minister for such a debate and the then Prime Minister would refuse.

This changed for the he United Kingdom general election of 2010 where debates consisted of a series of three leaders' debates between the leaders of the three main parties contesting the 2010 United Kingdom general election: Gordon Brown, Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party; David Cameron, Leader of the Opposition and Conservative Party; and Nick Clegg, leader of the third largest political party in the UK, the Liberal Democrats. They were the first such debates to be broadcast live in the run-up to a UK election.

Average viewing figures for the debate were 9.4 million, with a peak of 10.3 million, equivalent to a share of the audience of 37%. The BARB produced audience figures indicated that the total television audience for the event on ITV was 9,679,000 viewers. The debates caused a large, immediate, and unexpected impact on opinion polls in favour of the Liberal Democrats, leading to many headlines regarding a 'Yellow Surge', possibly because Clegg's opponents found themselves saying "I agree with Nick"

However it did not last perhaps due to the Right-Wing Media Fake-News increasing scrutiny of the Lib Dems and Nick Clegg

IN the  2015 After various prior proposals and arguments over which parties should be represented,there was a single debate between the leaders of seven British parties:^[3]

• David Cameron, Prime Minister (Conservative Party)
• Ed Miliband, Leader of the Opposition (Labour Party)
• Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister (Liberal Democrats)
• Nigel Farage (UKIP)
• Natalie Bennett (Green Party of England and Wales)
• Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland (SNP)
• Leanne Wood (Plaid Cymru)

The then home secretary, Amber Rudd, stood in for the PM during the 2017 campaign, going up against Jeremy Corbyn and the leaders of six other parties. will debate the petition on Monday, after it secured the 100,000 signatures required for it to be considered.

It calls for an independent commission to be set up to take things "out of politicians and broadcasters' hands".

Three debates were held in 2010 but numbers have dwindled since and Theresa May declined to participate in 2017.

The petition  calls for electoral law to be changed to require party leaders to take part in at least one debate.

It states that 

"an independent debates commission would take decision-making out of the politicians and broadcasters' hands and ensure TV debates become a regular fixture".

The government said debates were a matter for political parties and proposals for an independent arbiter, as has existed in the US for many years, "are something to be considered in due course by political parties closer to any general election in 2022".

Sky News launched a campaign earlier this year to make TV debates mandatory, and it won the backing of Mr Corbyn and Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable.

The problem here is the that whilst   making the debates statutory it is  somewhat vague and there is a danger that an "an independent debates commission" could have sole power to decide which party takes place.

Should it be contested by the two main parties Labour and Conservative as they at  this  the only ones likely to form a government.

But this turns the debate into a Presidential style debate and anyway , there is no legal reason why in a coalition government the Prime Minister would come from the largest party Caroline Lucus for PM anybody?

It also ignores the existence of the Welsh and Scottish Nationalist Parties and ignoring  what is by far the largest party in Scotland , which could be a partner in any coalition would be ridiculous.

The situation in Northern Ireland adds an extra complexity to the issue. Labour,and the Lib Dems  do not contest there and there only a small Tory campaign.

But as events have proven the DUP have considerable influence  over the current government and a debate could give electors a chance to see the policies of a Party that may be pulling the strings.

If we then include the DUP why not the Ulster Unionist SDLP and of course Sinn Féin (who would probably decline).

The factor of a new party suddenly receiving high polling results , mist also be considered.

All in all we should stick to the make up of the 2015 debate but Ukip participation may depend on their pol standings  and number of candidates as opposed to the Greens who have at least one MP.

I doubt that it will come to this and the petition falls at the first hurdle, but the principle should be there and those leaders not wishing to engage with the public made to do so.