Nigel Farage beats Nick Clegg on Twitter during Europe debate

Over 3,000 tweets were sent using the #LBCEurope hashtag during the debate between UKIP’s Nigal Farage and the Lib Dem’s Nick Clegg last night, with Farage pipping Clegg to the post when it came to positive mentions.In the past 24 hours, over 44,000 mentions were made to Farage on Twitter, while Clegg racked up 41,000 mentions.Research carried out by LBC, the radio station that hosted the debate, discovered that during the time of the debate itself, more positive tweets were sent about Farage than opponent Clegg.Farage’s joke about the food in Europe led to the most positive comments, but his views on Bulgarians and Romanians stopped him from being an outstanding Twitter winner.

"The one thing that benefits Britain from the EU is the food. The food is getting better." - Nigel Farage, 2014

— Chandler Walker (@Ch4ndl3rG30rge) March 26, 2014

19.16. "We didn't say that 29,000,000 Bulgarians and Romanians would come here," claims Farage, " We just heavily implied it", #LBCdebate

— UpikNews (@UpikNews) March 26, 2014

Clegg saw a spike in positive comments on Twitter when he was discussing the benefits that European membership brings when it comes to dealing with paedophiles and criminals abroad.

We must cross borders to catch criminals says Clegg reminding us that police want European Arrest Warrant #CleggvFarage

— Roland Rudd (@RolandRudd) March 26, 2014

However, his opinions on the economy – including his point that EU migrants contributed £22 billion to UK economy – was his downfall.

According to Clegg the UK's economy and NHS would collapse if it left the EU. Really?? Seem to remember we built an Empire.... #LBCdebate

— Jack Foster (@JackMFoster) March 26, 2014