UKIP bandwagon rolls on as party secures live ITV debate coup
UKIP have followed up their Clacton by election success with an invite to appear in a live television debate alongside the leaders of mainstream Westminster parties ahead of next May’s general election.
ITV has invited UKIP leader Nigel Farage to appear in the third of a trilogy of leader’s debates on 30 April, a coup for the veteran Europe campaigner who will relish the opportunity to lay into David Cameron, Ed Milliband and Nick Clegg on national TV under the watchful eye of Julie Etchingahm.
This would follow a face-off by David Cameron against Ed Milliband in a debate broadcast by Sky news and Channel 4, chaired by Jeremy Paxman and a BBC head to head between both leaders, with the inclusion of Nick Clegg, with David Dimbleby overseeing.
Other Nationalist parties have been left spitting tacks however with Plaid Cymru and the SNP formally objecting to their admission, particularly the SNP which has seen a surge in support north of the border since its failure to win the independence referendum.
So incensed are they by the snub that The Times is reporting that they are threatening to take legal action if the proposed format goes ahead.
The Green party has also threatened legal action over its exclusion.
Prime minister David Cameron has welcomed the proposals ‘in principle’ however they will require cross-party agreement to go ahead.